Induction of tumor immunity by variants of folate binding protein

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to variants of antigens comprising folate binding protein epitopes as a composition associated with providing immunity against a tumor in an individual. The variant is effective in inducing cytotoxic T-lymphocytes but preferably not to the extent that they become sensitive to silencing by elimination, such as by apoptosis, or by anergy, as in unresponsiveness.

The present invention claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/274,676 filed Mar. 9, 2001, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

The government owns rights in the present invention pursuant to United States Army grant number DAMD 17-94-J-4313.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to the fields of cancer and immunology. Specifically, the present invention is directed to compositions and methods for tumor vaccines directed to tumor antigens and is directed to specific epitopes on these antigens that are recognized by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL). More specifically, the present invention regards compositions and methods for variants of folate binding protein (FBP).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Tumor reactive T-cells have been reported to mediate therapeutic responses against human cancers (Rosenberg et al., 1988). In certain instances, in human immunotherapy trials with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) or tumor vaccines, these responses correlated either with in vitro cytotoxicity levels against autologous tumors (Aebersold et al., 1991) or with expression of certain HLA-A,B,C gene products (Marincola et al., 1992). Recent studies (Ioannides et al., 1992) have proposed that in addition to virally encoded and mutated oncogenes, overexpressed self-proteins may elicit some degree of tumor-reactive cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) in patients with various malignancies (Ioannides et al., 1992; Ioannides et al., 1993; Brichard et al., 1993; Jerome et al., 1991). Autologous tumor reactive CTLs can be generated from lymphocytes infiltrating ovarian malignant ascites (Ioannides et al., 1991), and overexpressed proteins, such as HER-2, may be targets for CTL recognition (Ioannides et al., 1992).

T-cells play an important role in tumor regression in most murine tumor models. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) that recognize unique cancer antigens can be isolated from many murine tumors. The adoptive transfer of these TIL in addition to interleukin-2 can mediate the regression of established lung and liver metastases (Rosenberg et al., 1986). In addition, the secretion of IFN-γ by injected TIL significantly correlates with in vivo regression of murine tumors suggesting activation of T-cells by the tumor antigens (Barth et al., 1991). The known ability of TIL to mediate the regression of metastatic cancer in 35 to 40% of melanoma patients when adoptively transferred into patients with metastatic melanoma attests to the clinical importance of the antigens recognized (Rosenberg et al., 1988; Rosenberg, 1992).

Strong evidence that an immune response to cancer exists in humans is provided by the existence of tumor reactive lymphocytes within melanoma deposits. These lymphocytes, when isolated, are capable of recognizing specific tumor antigens on autologous and allogeneic melanomas in an MHC restricted fashion. (Itoh et al., 1986; Muul et al., 1987; Topalian et al., 1989; Darrow et al., 1989; Hom et al., 1991; Kawakami et al., 1992; Hom et al., 1993; O'Neil et al., 1993). TIL from patients with metastatic melanoma recognize shared antigens including melanocyte-melanoma lineage specific tissue antigens in vitro (Kawakami et al., 1993; Anichini et al. 1993). Anti-melanoma T-cells appear to be enriched in TIL, probably as a consequence of clonal expansion and accumulation at the tumor site in vivo (Sensi et al., 1993). The transduction of T-cells with a variety of genes, such as cytokines, has been demonstrated. T-cells have been shown to express foreign gene products. (Blaese, 1993; Hwu et al., 1993; Culver et al., 1991) The fact that individuals mount cellular and humoral responses against tumor associated antigens suggests that identification and characterization of additional tumor antigens is important for immunotherapy of patients with cancer.

T-cell receptors on CD8⁺ T-cells recognize a complex consisting of an antigenic peptide (9-10 amino acids for HLA-A2), β2 microglobulin and class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) heavy chain (HLA-A, B, C, in humans). Peptides generated by digestion of endogenously synthesized proteins are transported into the endoplastic reticulum, bound to class I MHC heavy chain and β2 microglobulin, and finally expressed in the cell surface in the groove of the class I MHC molecule.

Information on epitopes of self-proteins recognized in the context of MHC Class I molecules remain limited, despite a few attempts to identify epitopes capable of in vitro priming and Ag-specific expansion of human CTLs. For example, peptide epitopes have been proposed which are likely candidates for binding on particular MHC Class I Ag (Falk et al., 1991), and some studies have attempted to define peptide epitopes which bind MHC Class I antigens.

Synthetic peptides have been shown to be a useful tool for T-cell epitope mapping. However in vivo and in vitro priming of specific CTLs has encountered difficulties (Alexander et al., 1991; Schild et al., 1991; Carbone et al., 1988). It is generally considered that in vitro CTL priming cannot necessarily be achieved with peptide alone, and in fact, a high antigen density is thought to be required for peptide priming (Alexander et al., 1991). Even in the limited instances when specific priming was achieved, APC or stimulators were also required at high densities (Alexander et al., 1991).

Short synthetic peptides have been used either as target antigens for epitope mapping or for induction of in vitro primary and secondary CTL responses to viral and parasitic Ags (Bednarek et al., 1991; Gammon et al., 1992; Schmidt et al., 1992; Kos and Müllbacher, 1992; Hill et al., 1992). Unfortunately, these studies failed to show the ability of proto-oncogene peptide analogs to stimulate in vitro human CTLs to lyse tumors endogenously expressing these antigens.

Identification of tumor antigens (Ag) and of specific epitopes on these Ag recognized by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes enables the development of tumor vaccines (for review of tumor antigens, see Rosenberg (2000), incorporated by reference herein). Tumor Ag are weak or partial agonists for activation of low-avidity (low-affinity) CTL. Attempts to activate CTL by increasing the affinity of peptide for MHC (by modifications in the anchor residues) has produced mixed successes even with powerful APC (dendritic cells, DC) and added B7 costimulation. Some of the resulting cross-reactive CTL recognized tumors with lower affinity than CTL induced by wild type Ag.

The limited ability of anchor-fixed immunogens to induce and expand high-affinity CTL raises the need for alternative approaches for CTL induction. One approach to this question is to design immunogens which activate “high-affinity” CTL from the existent pool of responders. In human tumor immunology, this approach has been successful in some instances. However, high-affinity CTL are expected to be more sensitive to silencing by elimination (e.g. apoptosis) or by anergy (unresponsiveness or diminished reactivity to a specific antigen).

These processes occur as a consequence of recurrent stimulations with Ag (tumor Ag) and are amplified by a number of cytokines. The general mechanism of activation induced cell death (AICD) is that repeated stimulations with an Ag in the presence of cytokines such as IL-2 activates cell death pathways. This is because stimulation with Ag and IL-2 transduces a signal which is too strong to induce proliferation and instead leads to premature senescence. An alternative death pathway, passive cell death (PCD) occurs when cytokines involved in survival (IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, etc.) are withdrawn. Since tumor Ag are self-Ag, the corresponding responding cells should be even more sensitive to deletion than CTL responding to foreign Ag, because the body's defense mechanisms are programmed to avoid autoimmunity. There is little known as to how the survival of responders to tumor Ag can be induced, and how they can be protected from AICD or PCD.

Preclinical and clinical trials are underway for the utilization of tumor-specific peptide epitopes for melanoma (Rivoltini et al., 1999; Parkhurst et al., 1998; Kawakami et al., 1998; Lustgarten et al., 1997; Zeng et al., 1997; Reynolds et al., 1998; Nestle et al., 1998; Chakraborty et al., 1998; Rosenberg et al., 1998); breast cancer, such as with MUC1 (Gendler et al., 1998; Xing et al., 1989; Xing et al., 1990; Jerome et al., 1993; Apostolopoulos et al., 1994; Ding et al., 1993; Zhang et al., 1996; Acres et al., 1993; Henderson et al., 1998; Henderson et al., 1996; Samuel et al., 1998; Gong et al., 1997; Apostolopoulos et al., 1995; Pietersz et al., 1998; Lofthouse et al., 1997; Rowse et al., 1998; Gong et al., 1998; Acres et al., 1999; Apostolopoulos et al., 1998; Lees et al., 1999; Xing et al., 1995; Goydos et al., 1996; Reddish et al., 1998; Karanikas et al., 1997), p53 (DeLeo, 1998; McCarty et al., 1998; Hurpin et al., 1998; Gabrilovich et al., 1996), and Her-2/neu (Disis and Cheever, 1998; Ioannides et al., 1993; Fisk et al., 1995; Peoples et al., 1995; Kawashima et al., 1999; Disi et al., 1996); and colon cancer (Kantor et al., 1992; Kantor et al., 1992; Tsang et al., 1995; Hodge et al., 1997; Conry et al., 1998; Kass et al., 1999; Zaremba et al., 1997; Nukaya et al., 1999).

Recently, peptides of folate binding protein (FBP) were recognized by tumor-associated lymphocytes (Peoples et al., 1998; Peoples et al., 1999; Kim et al., 1999). FBP is a membrane-associated glycoprotein originally found as a mAb-defined Ag in placenta and trophoblastic cells but rarely in other normal tissues (Retrig et al., 1985; Elwood, 1989; Weitman et al., 1992; Garin-Chesa et al., 1993). Of interest, this protein has been found in greater than 90% of ovarian and endometrial carcinomas; in 20-50% of breast, colorectal, lung, and renal cell carcinomas; and in multiple other tumor types. When present in cancerous tissue, the level of expression is usually greater than 20-fold normal tissue expression and has been reported to be as high as 80-90-fold in ovarian carcinomas (Li et al., 1996).

U.S. Pat. No. 5,846,538 is directed to immune reactivity to peptides of HER-2/neu protein for treatment of malignancies.

Folate binding protein provides an ideal target for and satisfies a long-felt need in the art for compositions and methods of utilizing the compositions directed to tumor immunity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide as a composition of matter an antigen comprising a folate binding protein epitope of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7 and SEQ ID NO:8.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a composition comprising an antigen which includes a folate binding protein epitope of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof in a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for stimulating cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, comprising the step of contacting the cytotoxic T-lymphocytes with an amount of an antigen comprising a folate binding protein epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, and a combination thereof, wherein the amount is effective to stimulate the cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the cytotoxic T-lymphocytes are located within a human. In another specific embodiment, the method further comprises the step of administering to the human an antigen comprising a folate binding protein epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, and a combination thereof. In another specific embodiment of the present invention, the epitope is formulated for administration parenterally, topically, or as an inhalant, aerosol or spray.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method of generating an immune response, comprising the step of administering to a human a pharmaceutical composition comprising an immunologically effective amount of a composition comprising an antigen comprising a folate binding epitope of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of inducing immunity against a tumor in an individual, comprising the steps of administering to the individual an antigen comprising a folate binding protein epitope of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof; and administering to the individual a cancer vaccine. In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the an antigen comprising a folate binding protein epitope is administered prior to the administration of the cancer vaccine. In a specific embodiment of the present invention, an antigen comprising a folate binding protein epitope is administered subsequent to the administration of the cancer vaccine. In another specific embodiment of the present invention, the antigen comprising a folate binding protein epitope is administered both prior to and subsequent to the administration of the cancer vaccine. In a further specific embodiment, the cancer vaccine comprises a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:268 (E39) and SEQ ID NO:269 (E41).

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of inducing memory cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in an individual comprising the step of administering an antigen comprising a folate binding epitope of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof. In a specific embodiment, the individual is substantially susceptible to recurrence of cancer.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of providing immunity against a tumor comprising the step of administering an antigen comprising a folate binding epitope vaccine of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of treating an individual for cancer comprising the steps of administering to the individual a first cancer vaccine; and administering to the individual a second cancer vaccine comprising a peptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof. In a specific embodiment, the first cancer vaccine administration step precedes the second cancer vaccine administration step. In another specific embodiment, the first cancer vaccine administration step is subsequent to the second cancer vaccine administration step.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a pharmaceutical composition comprising an antigen comprising a folate binding protein epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof in a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of treating a proliferative cell disorder in a human, comprising administering to the human a therapeutically effective amount of a pharmaceutical composition comprising an antigen comprising a folate binding protein epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof in a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient. In a specific embodiment, the proliferative cell disorder is cancer. In an additional specific embodiment, the cancer is breast cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, renal cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, brain cancer, sarcomas, or a combination thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The following drawings form part of the present specification and are included to further demonstrate certain aspects of the present invention. The invention may be better understood by reference to one or more of these drawings in combination with the detailed description of specific embodiments presented herein.

FIG. 1 demonstrates HLA-A2 stabilization by FBP epitope E39 variants.

FIG. 2A illustrates IFN-γ induction in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) with multiple stimulations with J65 or E39.

FIG. 2B illustrates CTL activity in PBMC with multiple stimulations with J65 or E39.

FIG. 3 illustrates specific interleukin 2 (IL-2) induction in PBMCs by priming with E39 variants.

FIG. 4 illustrates expansion of PBMCs stimulated with FBP peptide E39 and its variants.

FIG. 5 demonstrates expansion of PBMC stimulated with variants of the FBP peptide E39.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION I. Definitions

As used herein the specification, “a” or “an” may mean one or more. As used herein in the claim(s), when used in conjunction with the word “comprising”, the words “a” or “an” may mean one or more than one. As used herein “another” may mean at least a second or more.

The term “antigen” as used herein is defined as an entity which elicits an immune system response. The term herein may be abbreviated to “Ag.”

The term “cancer” as used herein is defined as a tissue of uncontrolled growth or proliferation of cells, such as a tumor. In a specific embodiment, the cancer is an epithelial cancer. In specific embodiments, the cancer is breast cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, renal cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, brain cancer, sarcomas, or a combination thereof. In specific embodiments, such cancers in mammals are caused by chromosomal abnormalities, degenerative growth and/or developmental disorders, mitogenic agents, ultraviolet radiation (uv), viral infections, inappropriate tissue expression of a gene, alterations in expression of a gene, carcinogenic agents, or a combination thereof. The term melanoma includes, but is not limited to, melanomas, metastatic melanomas, melanomas derived from either melanocytes or melanocyte related nevus cells, melanocarcinomas, melanoepitheliomas, melanosarcomas, melanoma in situ, superficial spreading melanoma, nodular melanoma, lentigo maligna melanoma, acral lentiginous melanoma, invasive melanoma or familial atypical mole and melanoma (FAM-M) syndrome. The aforementioned cancers can be treated by methods described in the present application.

The term “epitope” as used herein is defined as a short peptide derived from a protein antigen which binds to an MHC molecule and is recognized by a particular T cell.

The term “folate binding protein variant” as used herein is defined as a folate binding protein and peptides thereof which are preferably recognized by helper T cells or cytotoxic T cells and may be naturally derived, synthetically produced, genetically engineered, or a functional equivalent thereof, e.g. where one or more amino acids may be replaced by other amino acid(s) or non-amino acid(s) which do not substantially affect function. In specific embodiments, the peptides are epitopes which contain alterations, modifications, or changes in comparison to SEQ ID NO:268 (E39) or SEQ ID NO:269 (E41). In further specific embodiments, the variants are of SEQ ID NO:1 through SEQ ID NO:8.

The term “immune response” as used herein refers to a cellular immune response, including eliciting stimulation of T lymphocytes, macrophages, and/or natural killer cells.

The term “immunity” as used herein is defined as the ability to provide resistance to a tumor resulting from exposure to an antigen that is a folate binding protein epitope, such as the folate binding protein variants described herein.

The term “vaccine” as used herein is defined as a composition for generating immunity to a cancer. In specific embodiments, the cancer vaccine is a wild-type epitope of folate binding protein, such as E39 (FBP amino acid residues 191-199) (SEQ ID NO:268) or E41 (FBP amino acid residues 245-253) (SEQ ID NO:269). In other specific embodiments, the cancer vaccine comprises SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, or SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof. In a preferred embodiment, administration of the vaccine alternates the signaling through the T cell receptor, thereby reducing the possibility of apoptosis.

The term “variant” as used herein is defined as a modified or altered form of a wildtype sequence, such as the folate binding protein E39 epitope (SEQ ID NO:268). The variant may contain replacement of at least one amino acid residue or may contain an altered side chain for at least one amino acid residue.

II. The Present Invention A. Specific Embodiments

The present invention is directed to folate binding protein tumor Ag modified to attenuate the signaling through T cell receptors, compared with a wild-type folate binding protein tumor Ag, particularly for reducing the possibility of apoptosis that results following repeated exposure to strong antigens. Thus, variants of folate binding protein epitopes such as E39 (SEQ ID NO:268) and E41 (SEQ ID NO:269), which are “strong” antigens, are modified to act as a “weak” antigen. Thus, the present invention utilizes compositions and methods to attenuate signaling through the T cell receptors.

The invention works as (1) prestimulation prevaccine, to be administered before the tumor Ag; (2) as post vaccine to be given after the tumor Ag; and/or (3) in certain individuals will work as a priming vaccine. The situations (1) and (2) are more related to a protective role for SEQ ID NO:6 (J65) and its analogs for tumor reactive CTL. The situation (3) can be encountered in certain individuals where mutations in the histocompatibility Ag binding pocket may transform an attenuator into a strong immunogen.

The invention allows protection before and after vaccination of either precursors (stand-in) or activated effectors. In specific embodiments, administration of the variants of folate binding protein provide targeted induction of memory CTL.

The variants described herein, in a particular embodiment SEQ ID NO:6, are intended to attenuate the signaling at recurrent stimulation, thus inducing protection of CTL precursors as of activated T-cells from apoptosis, thereby enabling the immune response to expand, and, in preferred embodiments, have important implications in induction of memory CTL.

It is well known that the two major arms of the immune system are: (1) cell-mediated immunity with immune T cells; and (2) humoral immunity with antibodies. Further, the immune system normally functions to recognize and destroy any foreign or aberrant cells in the body. Since FBP is expressed by some normal cells, tolerance and/or anergy is expected.

Development of molecular therapies for cancer have historically focused on specific recognition of Ags by cellular immune effectors. The present invention discloses novel strategies aimed at identification of peptide targets for CTLs, and generation of T-cell immunity against specific epitopes (for a review of T-cell specific immunity, see, e.g., Ioannides et al., 1992; Houbiers et al., 1993).

To achieve this, the present invention provides novel naturally- and synthetically-derived peptides which bind human leucocyte antigen-(HLA) class I heavy chains. Appropriate criteria for epitope selection in vitro have been defined, and synthetic peptides based on immunogenic epitopes of FBP have also been produced.

Although the dominant anchors for peptide binding to HLA-A2 are Leu (P2) and Val (P9), a number of residues with similar charge and side chains, such as Ile and/or Met, were identified in CTL epitopes from viral proteins (Falk et al., 1991; Bednarek et at, 1991).

B. General Embodiments

1. CTL Epitopes

CTL epitopes reported to date are mainly derived from foreign (viral) proteins with little or no homology to self-proteins. With respect to CTL responses to self-proteins, it is expected that T-cells expressing TCR with high affinity for self-peptide-MHC class I complexes are eliminated in the thymus during development. Self-peptides eluted from HLA-A2.1 molecules of various cell lines show residues at P3-P5 and P7-P8 which are different from the sequences of viral epitopes recognized by human CTLs. Since these residues are likely to contact and interact with TCR, they may reflect peptides for which autologous T-cells are already tolerant/anergic.

For T-cell recognizing self-epitopes to be eliminated or anergized, a precondition exists that the peptide-MHC complex is stable enough to engage a sufficient number of TCRs, or at least more stable than other HLA-A2 peptide complexes, where one peptide can be easily displaced by other peptides. Consequently, this would suggest that for self-proteins with extension to FBP, the ones that can bind TCR with high affinity during development will be less likely to be recognized later when expressed on a tumor other target, than peptides that bind HLA-A2 with low affinity, which under appropriate conditions (e.g., high protein concentration) may occupy a higher number of HLA-A2 molecules. For low-affinity peptides, modification of the anchors resulting in stabilization of peptide—HLA-A2 interaction by replacing weak with dominant anchor residues (e.g., (P9) M

V, should facilitate the reactivity of CTL with targets expressing such antigens, because TCR interacts mainly with the sequence P4-P8.

Tumor progression and metastasis are often associated with overexpression of specific cellular proteins. Epitopes of non-mutated overexpressed proteins can be targets of a specific cellular immune response against tumor mediated by T-cells. Moreover, when T-cell epitopes are present, distinction between tumor immunity/autoimmunity and unresponsiveness can be predicated on the protein concentration as a limiting factor of epitope supply.

2. Epitopic Core Sequences

The present invention is also directed to protein or peptide compositions, free from total cells and other peptides, which comprise a purified protein or peptide which incorporates an epitope that is immunologically recognized by a CTL.

As used herein, the term “incorporating an epitope(s) that is immunologically recognized by a CTL” is intended to refer to a peptide or protein antigen which includes a primary, secondary or tertiary structure similar to an epitope located within a FBP polypeptide. The level of similarity will generally be to such a degree that the same population of CTLs will also bind to, react with, or otherwise recognize, the cross-reactive peptide or protein antigen.

The identification of CTL-stimulating immunodominant epitopes, and/or their functional equivalents, suitable for use in vaccines is a relatively straightforward matter. For example, one may employ the methods of Hopp, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,101, incorporated herein by reference, which teaches the identification and preparation of epitopes from amino acid sequences on the basis of hydrophilicity. The methods described in several other papers, and software programs based thereon, can also be used to identify epitopic core sequences (see, for example, Jameson and Wolf, 1988; Wolf et al., 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,101). The amino acid sequence of these “epitopic core sequences” may then be readily incorporated into peptides, either through the application of peptide synthesis or recombinant technology.

Preferred peptides for use in accordance with the present invention will generally be on the order of 8 to 20 amino acids in length, and more preferably about 8 to about 15 amino acids in length. It is proposed that shorter antigenic CTL-stimulating peptides will provide advantages in certain circumstances, for example, in the preparation of vaccines or in immunologic detection assays. Exemplary advantages include the ease of preparation and purification, the relatively low cost and improved reproducibility of production, and advantageous biodistribution.

It is proposed that particular advantages of the present invention may be realized through the preparation of synthetic peptides which include modified and/or extended epitopic/immunogenic core sequences which result in a “universal” epitopic peptide directed to FBP sequences. These epitopic core sequences are identified herein in particular aspects as hydrophilic regions of the FBP polypeptide antigen. It is proposed that these regions represent those which are most likely to promote T-cell or B-cell stimulation, and, hence, elicit specific antibody production.

An epitopic core sequence, as used herein, is a relatively short stretch of amino acids that is “complementary” to, and therefore will bind, receptors on CTLs. It will be understood that in the context of the present disclosure, the term “complementary” refers to amino acids or peptides that exhibit an attractive force towards each other.

In general, the size of the polypeptide antigen is not believed to be particularly crucial, so long as it is at least large enough to carry the identified core sequence or sequences. The smallest useful core sequence anticipated by the present disclosure would generally be on the order of about 8 amino acids in length, with sequences on the order of 9 or 10 being more preferred. Thus, this size will generally correspond to the smallest peptide antigens prepared in accordance with the invention. However, the size of the antigen may be larger where desired, so long as it contains a basic epitopic core sequence.

A skilled artisan recognizes that numerous computer programs are available for use in predicting antigenic portions of proteins (see e.g., Jameson & Wolf, 1988; Wolf et al., 1988). Computerized peptide sequence analysis programs (e.g., DNAStar Software, DNAStar, Inc., Madison, Wisc.) may also be useful in designing synthetic peptides in accordance with the present disclosure.

Syntheses of epitopic sequences, or peptides which include an antigenic epitope within their sequence, are readily achieved using conventional synthetic techniques such as the solid phase method (e.g., through the use of commercially available peptide synthesizer such as an Applied Biosystems Model 430A Peptide Synthesizer). Peptide antigens synthesized in this manner may then be aliquoted in predetermined amounts and stored in conventional manners, such as in aqueous solutions or, even more preferably, in a powder or lyophilized state pending use.

In general, due to the relative stability of peptides, they may be readily stored in aqueous solutions for fairly long periods of time if desired, e.g., up to six months or more, in virtually any aqueous solution without appreciable degradation or loss of antigenic activity. However, where extended aqueous storage is contemplated it will generally be desirable to include agents including buffers such as Tris or phosphate buffers to maintain a pH of about 7.0 to about 7.5. Moreover, it may be desirable to include agents which will inhibit microbial growth, such as sodium azide or Merthiolate. For extended storage in an aqueous state it will be desirable to store the solutions at 4° C., or more preferably, frozen. Of course, where the peptides are stored in a lyophilized or powdered state, they may be stored virtually indefinitely, e.g., in metered aliquots that may be rehydrated with a predetermined amount of water (preferably distilled) or buffer prior to use.

3. T lymphocytes

T lymphocytes recognize antigen in the form of peptide fragments that are bound to class I and class II molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) locus. Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is a generic designation meant to encompass the histocompatibility antigen systems described in different species including the human leucocyte antigens (HLA). The T-cell receptor for antigen (TCR) is a complex of at least 8 polypeptide chains. (“Basic and Clinical Immunology” (1994) Stites, Terr and Parslow (eds) Appleton and Lange, Nenmack Conn.) Two of these chains (the alpha and beta chains) form a disulfide-linked dimer that recognizes antigenic peptides bound to MHC molecules and therefore is the actual ligand-binding structure within the TCR. The TCR alpha and beta chains are similar in many respects to immunoglobulin proteins. The amino-terminal regions of the alpha and beta chains are highly polymorphic, so that within the entire T-cell population there are a large number of different TCR alpha/beta dimers, each capable of recognizing or binding a particular combination of antigenic peptide and MHC.

In general, CD4⁺ T cell populations are considered to function as helpers/inducers through the release of lymphokines when stimulated by a specific antigen; however, a subset of CD4⁺ cells can act as cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). Similarly, CD8⁺ T cells are considered to function by directly lysing antigenic targets; however, under a variety of circumstances they can secrete lymphokines to provide helper or DTH function. Despite the potential of overlapping function, the phenotypic CD4 and CD8 markers are linked to the recognition of peptides bound to class II or class I MHC antigens. The recognition of antigen in the context of class II or class I MHC mandates that CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells respond to different antigens or the same antigen presented under different circumstances. The binding of immunogenic peptides to class II MHC antigens most commonly occurs for antigens ingested by antigen presenting cells. Therefore, CD4⁺ T cells generally recognize antigens that have been external to the tumor cells. By contrast, under normal circumstances, binding of peptides to class I MHC occurs only for proteins present in the cytosol and synthesized by the target itself, proteins in the external environment are excluded. An exception to this is the binding of exogenous peptides with a precise class I binding motif which are present outside the cell in high concentration. Thus, CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells have broadly different functions and tend to recognize different antigens as a reflection of where the antigens normally reside.

As disclosed within the present invention, the protein product expressed by FBP is recognized by T cells. Such a protein expression product “turns over” within cells, i.e., undergoes a cycle wherein a synthesized protein functions and then eventually is degraded and replaced by a newly synthesized molecule. During the protein life cycle, peptide fragments from the protein bind to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens. By display of a peptide bound to MHC antigen on the cell surface and recognition by host T cells of the combination of peptide plus self MHC antigen, a malignant cell will be immunogenic to T cells. The exquisite specificity of the T cell receptor enables individual T cells to discriminate between protein fragments which differ by a single amino acid residue.

During the immune response to a peptide, T cells expressing a T cell receptor with high affinity binding of the peptide-MHC complex will bind to the peptide-MHC complex and thereby become activated and induced to proliferate. In the first encounter with a peptide, small numbers of immune T cells will secrete lymphokines, proliferate and differentiate into effector and memory T cells. Subsequent encounters with the same antigen by the memory T cell will lead to a faster and more intense immune response.

Intact folate binding protein or peptides thereof which are recognized by cytotoxic T cells may be used within the present invention. The peptides may be naturally derived or produced based upon an identified sequence. The peptides for CD8⁺ T cell responses (elicited by peptides presented by folate binding protein class I MHC molecules) are generally about 8-10 amino acids in length. Peptides for CD8⁺ T cell responses vary according to each individual's class I MHC molecules. Examples of peptides suitable within the present invention for CD8⁺ T cell responses include peptides comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO:1 through SEQ ID NO:8.

It will be evident to those of ordinary skill in the art that other peptides may be produced for use within the present invention, both for class I MHC molecules as well as for class II molecules. A variety of techniques are well known for isolating or constructing peptides. Suitable peptides are readily identified based upon the disclosure provided herein. Additional suitable peptides include those which are longer in length. Such peptides may be extended (e.g., by the addition of one or more amino acid residues and/or truncated (e.g., by the deletion of one or more amino acid residues from the carboxyl terminus). Alternatively, suitable peptides may be variations on other preferred peptides disclosed herein. Although this particular peptide variation may result in a peptide with the same number of total amino acids (such as nine), a peptide variation on a preferred peptide need not be identical in length. Variations in amino acid sequence that yield peptides having substantially the same desired biological activity are within the scope of the present invention.

Immunization of an individual with a FBP peptide (i.e., as a vaccine) can induce continued expansion in the number of T cells necessary for therapeutic attack against a tumor in which FBP is associated. Typically, about 0.01 μg/kg to about 100 mg/kg body weight will be administered by the intradermal, subcutaneous or intravenous route. A preferred dosage is about 1 μg/kg to about 1 mg/kg, with about 5 μg/kg to about 200 μg/kg particularly preferred. It will be evident to those skilled in the art that the number and frequency of administrations will be dependent upon the response of the patient. It may be desirable to administer the FBP peptide repetitively. It will be evident to those skilled in this art that more than one FBP peptide may be administered, either simultaneously or sequentially. For example, a combination of about 8-15 peptides may be used for immunization. Preferred peptides for immunization are those that include all or a portion of at least one FBP amino acid SEQ ID NO:1 through SEQ ID NO:68, or variants thereof. One or more peptides from other portions of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:1 through SEQ ID NO:68 may be added to one or more of the preferred peptides.

In addition to the FBP peptide (which functions as an antigen), it may be desirable to include other components in the vaccine, such as a vehicle for antigen delivery and immunostimulatory substances designed to enhance the protein's immunogenicity. Examples of vehicles for antigen delivery include aluminum salts, water-in-oil emulsions, biodegradable oil vehicles, oil-in-water emulsions, biodegradable microcapsules, and liposomes. Examples of immunostimulatory substances (adjuvants) include N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanine-D-isoglutamine (MDP), lipopoly-saccharides (LPS), glucan, IL-12, GM-CSF, gamma interferon and IL-15. It will be evident to those skilled in this art that a FBP peptide may be prepared synthetically or that a portion of the protein (naturally-derived or synthetic) may be used. When a peptide is used without additional sequences, it may be desirable to couple the peptide hapten to a carrier substance, such as keyhole limpet hemocyanin.

The methods and compositions of the present invention are particularly well-suited for inducing an immune response in a patient who has developed resistance to conventional cancer treatments or who has a high probability of developing a recurrence following treatment. A skilled artisan recognizes that cancer cells are able to evade the immune system or evade an effective immune response because they look like self, they actively anergize the immune system to any antigens which may potentially differentiate between self and tumor, and they may create an immunosuppressive environment by secreting immunosuppressive factors and/or by expressing factors which can induce apoptosis of an offensive tumor antigen-specific killer cell.

A skilled artisan is aware of multiple reviews concerning cancer vaccines and the generation of cellular immune responses to antigenic tumor peptides (Pietersz et al., 2000; Pardoll, 2000; Rosenberg, 2000; Dalgleish, 2000, each of which are incorporated by reference herein).

A skilled artisan recognizes that the antigen can be produced in large amounts by recombinant technology, either as soluble molecules in eukaryotic systems or as fusion proteins in bacterial systems. In a specific embodiment, synthetic peptides are made from the tumor antigen. Furthermore, monoclonal antibodies to the tumor antigens are useful in their identification and purification.

In a peptide approach to tumor immunotherapy, peptides (such as about 8-9mers) are presented by MHC class I molecules, leading to the generation of CD8⁺-mediated cellular responses comprising CTLs and cytokine secretion, mostly in the form of IFN-γ and TNF-α.

A skilled artisan recognizes that the dendritic cell is important in generating CD8⁺ CTLs following class I presentation. Esche et al. (1999) demonstrated techniques whereby dendritic cells are obtained from patients, isolated, expanded in vitro, exposed to the peptides and reintroduced into the patient. Others utilize similarly treated dendritic cells for generation of specifically activated T cells in vitro before transfer.

A crucial initial step in CD8⁺ T cell generation is the uptake and presentation of peptides by MHC molecules by antigen-presenting cells. MHC class I proteins consist of three subunits, all of which are important for the formation of a stable complex. X-ray crystallography of MHC class I molecules has demonstrated that interaction of peptides with the MHC class I groove is determined by the peptide sequence, with discrete amino acids interacting with pockets in the MHC groove (which have a fixed spacing from each other) and also have specificity for anchoring amino acid side chains. Although there are exceptions, the amino and carboxy termini of the peptides are anchored at either end of the groove, often in positions 2 or 3, 5 or 7 (Apostolopoulos et al., 1997a; Apostolopoulos et al., 1997b). The peptides also interact with the T cell receptor, yet only a small amount of the peptide is exposed (Apostolopoulos et al., 1998).

Given that multiple peptide tumor antigens, such as folate binding protein, have been identified in addition to characterization of T cell epitopes, in a specific embodiment of the present invention peptide antigens are generated synthetically for immunization. The immunogenicity of small peptides can be improved upon by increasing the peptide size, by binding to carriers and also by using adjuvants to activate macrophages and other immune system factors. A skilled artisan is cognizant of recombinant cytokines being used to increase immunogenicity of a synthetic peptide (Tao and Levy, 1993) and furthermore that cytokines can also be directly fused to peptides (Nakao et al., 1994; Disis et al., 1996; Chen et al., 1994).

In specific embodiments of the present invention, mixtures of separate peptides are administered as a vaccine. Alternatively, multiple epitopes may be incorporated into the same molecule by recombinant technology well known in the art (Mateo et al., 1999; Astori and Krachenbuhl, 1996). In another embodiment, a combinatorial peptide library is used to increase binding peptides by utilizing different amino acids at least one anchor location.

In another embodiment of the present invention, natural amino acids of a peptide are replaced with unnatural D-amino acids; alternatively, the peptide residues are assembled in reverse order, which renders the peptides resistant to proteases (Briand et al., 1997; Herve et al., 1997; Bartnes et al., 1997; Guichard et al., 1996). In another embodiment, unnatural modified amino acids are incorporated into a peptide, such as α-aminoisobutyric acid or N-methylserine.

A skilled artisan recognizes that the binding strength of the 8- or 9-mer to the MHC complex and the subsequent recognition by the T cell receptor determines the immunogenicity of CTL peptides. Van Der Burg et al. (1993) determined that the longer the peptide remains bound to the MHC complex, the better the chance it will induce a T cell response. A skilled artisan also recognizes that there are methods for introducing extraneous peptides directly into the cytoplasm of a cell to allow generation of class I-restricted cellular immune responses. One example includes microbial toxins, which can carry peptides in their cytoplasm for delivery because they enter cells by receptor-mediated endocytosis and thereby deposit cellular toxins into the cytoplasm. Specific examples include shiga toxin (Lee et al., 1998), anthrax toxin (Goletz et al., 1997), diphtheria toxin (Stenmark et al., 1991), Pseudomonas exotoxin (Donnelly et al., 1993), and Bordetella pertussis toxin (Fayolle et al., 1996).

In alternative embodiments, peptides enter cells through membrane fusion and are beneficial for delivering tumor or other peptides into a cell cytoplasm, including Antennapedia (Derossi et al., 1994; Derossi et al., 1996; Schutze-Redelmeier et al., 1996), Tat protein (Kim et al., 1997), and Measles virus fusion peptide (Partidos et al., 1997).

In other embodiments, peptides are introduced into a cytoplasm through lipopeptides, which comprise both a lipid and a peptide, by direct insertion into the lipophilic cell membrane (BenMohamed et al., 1997; Obert et al., 1998; Deprez et al., 1996; Beekman et al., 1997). In alternative embodiments, the peptides are delivered in liposomes (for examples, see Nakanishi et al., 1997; Noguchi et al., 1991; Fukasawa et al., 1998; Guan et al., 1998), whereby the immunogenicity is dependent on the size, charge, lipid composition of the liposome itself, and whether or not the antigen is present on the surface of the liposome or within its interior.

A skilled artisan also recognizes that immune-stimulating complexes (ISCOMs), which comprise Quill A (a mixture of saponins), cholesterol, phospholipid, and proteins, are useful for delivering naturally hydrophobic antigens or antigens made hydrophobic by the addition of myristic or palmitic acid tails (for examples, see Hsu et al., 1996; Sjolander et al., 1997; Villacres-Eriksson, 1995; Tarpey et al., 1996; Rimmelzwaan et al., 1997). ISCOMs facilitate penetration into cells by fusion with their membranes, by endocytosis, or by phagocytosis.

Antigens may also be directed to particular subcellular compartments through incorporation of sorting signals to the antigen by recombinant technology, including Class II LAMP-I (Rowell et al., 1995; Wu et al., 1995), ER targeting peptide (Minev et al., 1994); CLIP (Malcherik et al., 1998), and heat shock proteins (Udono and Srivastava, 1993; Heike et al., 1996; Zhu et al., 1996; Suzue et al., 1997; Ciupitu et al., 1998).

A skilled artisan recognizes that the present invention provides anti-cancer therapeutic compositions comprising a variety of peptides designated for CD8⁺ T cell responses comprising SEQ ID NO:1 through SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof. A skilled artisan also recognizes that the present invention provides anti-cancer therapeutic compositions comprising a variety of peptides designated for CD8⁺ T cell responses consisting essentially of SEQ ID NO:1 through SEQ ID NO:8, or a combination thereof.

A skilled artisan recognizes that references such as Abrams and Schlom (2000) summarize the current views on rational Ag modification. Two types of peptides are described: (1) agonistic peptides which upregulate Ag-specific responses; (2) antagonistic/partial agonistic peptides which downregulate the same responses. However, it is an object of the present invention to provide therapy which stimulate Ag-specific immune responses while at the same time does not elicit activation induced-cell death or death by neglect.

A skilled artisan recognizes that sequences that encode folate binding protein epitopes for induction of tumor immunity can be obtained from databases such as the National Center for Biotechnology Informations's GenBank database or commercially available databases, such as that of Celera Genomics, Inc. (Rockville, Md.). Examples of folate binding protein sequences which may comprise an epitope or which can be altered to comprise an epitope include the following, denoted by GenBank Accession numbers: P14207 (SEQ ID NO:9); P15328 (SEQ ID NO:10); P13255 (SEQ ID NO:11); NP_(—)000793 (SEQ ID NO:12); AAB05827 (SEQ ID NO:13); AAG36877 (SEQ ID NO:14); S42627 (SEQ ID NO:15); S00112 (SEQ ID NO:16); BFBO (SEQ ID NO:17); S62670 (SEQ ID NO:18); S62669 (SEQ ID NO:19); A55968 (SEQ ID NO:20); A45753 (SEQ ID NO:21); A33417 (SEQ ID NO:22); B40969 (SEQ ID NO:23); A40969 (SEQ ID NO:24); NP_(—)057943 (SEQ ID NO:25); NP_(—)057942 (SEQ ID NO:26); NP_(—)057941 (SEQ ID NO:27); NP_(—)057937 (SEQ ID NO:28); NP_(—)057936 (SEQ ID NO:29); NP_(—)037439 (SEQ ID NO:30); NP_(—)032061 (SEQ ID NO:31); NP_(—)032060 (SEQ ID NO:32); NP_(—)000795 (SEQ ID NO:33); NP_(—)000794 (SEQ ID NO:34); AAF66225 (SEQ ID NO:35); BAA37125 (SEQ ID NO:36); P02752 (SEQ ID NO:37); Q05685 (SEQ ID NO:38); P35846 (SEQ ID NO:39); P02702 (SEQ ID NO:40); AAD53001 (SEQ ID NO:41); AAD33741 (SEQ ID NO:42); AAD33740 (SEQ ID NO:43); AAD19354 (SEQ ID NO:44); AAD19353 (SEQ ID NO:45); AAC98303 (SEQ ID NO:46); AAB81938 (SEQ ID NO:47); AAB81937 (SEQ ID NO:48); AAB49703 (SEQ ID NO:49); AAB35932 (SEQ ID NO:50); 1011184A (SEQ ID NO:51); 0908212A (SEQ ID NO:52); CAA44610 (SEQ ID NO:53); CAA83553 (SEQ ID NO:54); AAA74896 (SEQ ID NO:55); AAA49056 (SEQ ID NO:56); AAA37599 (SEQ ID NO:57); AAA37598 (SEQ ID NO:58); AAA37597 (SEQ ID NO:59); AAA37594 (SEQ ID NO:60); AAA37596 (SEQ ID NO:61); AAA37595 (SEQ ID NO:62); AAA35824 (SEQ ID NO:63); AAA35823 (SEQ ID NO:64); AAA35822 (SEQ ID NO:65); AAA35821 (SEQ ID NO:66); AAA18382 (SEQ ID NO:67); and AAA17370 (SEQ ID NO:68).

A skilled artisan also recognizes that epitopes of folate binding protein, nucleic acid sequences are encoded by, or altered to encode a variant of, for example, one of the following: U02715 (SEQ ID NO:69); BE518506 (SEQ ID NO:70); BG058247 (SEQ ID NO:71); BG017460 (SEQ ID NO:72); NM_(—)000802 (SEQ ID NO:73); U20391 (SEQ ID NO:74); NM_(—)016731 (SEQ ID NO:75); NM_(—)016730 (SEQ ID NO:76); NM_(—)016729 (SEQ ID NO:77); NM_(—)016725 (SEQ ID NO:78); NM_(—)016724 (SEQ ID NO:79); NM_(—)013307 (SEQ ID NO:80); NM_(—)008035 (SEQ ID NO:81); NM_(—)008034 (SEQ ID NO:82); BF153292 (SEQ ID NO:83); BF114518 (SEQ ID NO:84); BE940806 (SEQ ID NO:85); BE858996 (SEQ ID NO:86); AF219906 (SEQ ID NO:87); AF219905 (SEQ ID NO:88); AF219904 (SEQ ID NO:89); BE687177 (SEQ ID NO:90); BE636622 (SEQ ID NO:91); BE627230 (SEQ ID NO:92); BE506561 (SEQ ID NO:93); BE505048 (SEQ ID NO:94); BE496754 (SEQ ID NO:95); BB114010 (SEQ ID NO:96); BB109527 (SEQ ID NO:97); BB107219 (SEQ ID NO:98); BE206324 (SEQ ID NO:99); BE448392 (SEQ ID NO:100); BE207596 (SEQ ID NO:101); BE206635 (SEQ ID NO:102); BE240998 (SEQ ID NO:103); BE228221 (SEQ ID NO:104); BE225416 (SEQ ID NO:105); BE225404 (SEQ ID NO:106); BB214040 (SEQ ID NO:107); BE199619 (SEQ ID NO:108); BE199597 (SEQ ID NO:109); BE198610 (SEQ ID NO:110); BE198571 (SEQ ID NO:111); BE188055 (SEQ ID NO:112); BE187804 (SEQ ID NO:113); BB032646 (SEQ ID NO:114); BE037278 (SEQ ID NO:115); BE037125 (SEQ ID NO:116); BE037110 (SEQ ID NO:117); BE037009 (SEQ ID NO:118); BE036024 (SEQ ID NO:119); BE035828 (SEQ ID NO:120); BE035751 (SEQ ID NO:121); BE019724 (SEQ ID NO:122); AW913291 (SEQ ID NO:123); AW912445 (SEQ ID NO:124); AW823912 (SEQ ID NO:125); AW823418 (SEQ ID NO:126); AB023803 (SEQ ID NO:127); AB022344 (SEQ ID NO:128); AW475385 (SEQ ID NO:129); AW323586 (SEQ ID NO:130); AW319308 (SEQ ID NO:131); AW239668 (SEQ ID NO:132); AV253136 (SEQ ID NO:133); AW013716 (SEQ ID NO:134); AW013704 (SEQ ID NO:135); AW013702 (SEQ ID NO:136); AW013696 (SEQ ID NO:137); AW013669 (SEQ ID NO:138); AW013647 (SEQ ID NO:139); AW013501 (SEQ ID NO:140); AW013484 (SEQ ID NO:141); AW013428 (SEQ ID NO:142); AW013404 (SEQ ID NO:143); AW013386 (SEQ ID NO:144); AW013284 (SEQ ID NO:145); AW013183 (SEQ ID NO:146); AF061256 (SEQ ID NO:147); AI956572 (SEQ ID NO:148); AI882550 (SEQ ID NO:149); AI822932 (SEQ ID NO:150); AI785988 (SEQ ID NO:151); AI744273 (SEQ ID NO:152); AI727302 (SEQ ID NO:153); AI725714 (SEQ ID NO:154); AF137375 (SEQ ID NO:155); AF137374 (SEQ ID NO:156); AF137373 (SEQ ID NO:157); AF096320 (SEQ ID NO:158); AF096319 (SEQ ID NO:159); AI663857 (SEQ ID NO:160); AI647841 (SEQ ID NO:161); AI646950 (SEQ ID NO:162); AI607910 (SEQ ID NO:163); AI529173 (SEQ ID NO:164); AI509734 (SEQ ID NO:165); AI506267 (SEQ ID NO:166); AI498269 (SEQ ID NO:167); AI000444 (SEQ ID NO:168); AA956337 (SEQ ID NO:169); AA955042 (SEQ ID NO:170); AA899838 (SEQ ID NO:171); AA899718 (SEQ ID NO:172); AA858756 (SEQ ID NO:173); AI311561 (SEQ ID NO:174); AI385951 (SEQ ID NO:175); AI352406 (SEQ ID NO:176); AF100161 (SEQ ID NO:177); AI326503 (SEQ ID NO:178); AI325517 (SEQ ID NO:179); AI325453 (SEQ ID NO:180); AI325382 (SEQ ID NO:181); AI323700 (SEQ ID NO:182); AI323374 (SEQ ID NO:183); AI313973 (SEQ ID NO:184); AI196928 (SEQ ID NO:185); AF091041 (SEQ ID NO:186); AI156212 (SEQ ID NO:187); AI120374 (SEQ ID NO:188); AI119000 (SEQ ID NO:189); AA408670 (SEQ ID NO:190); AA408072 (SEQ ID NO:191); AA407615 (SEQ ID NO:192); AA995272 (SEQ ID NO:193); C78593 (SEQ ID NO:194); AA999910 (SEQ ID NO:195); AA991491 (SEQ ID NO:196); X99994 (SEQ ID NO:197); X99993 (SEQ ID NO:198); X99992 (SEQ ID NO:199); X99991 (SEQ ID NO:200); X99990 (SEQ ID NO:201); AA958985 (SEQ ID NO:202); AA873222 (SEQ ID NO:203); AA930051 (SEQ ID NO:204); AA895334 (SEQ ID NO:205); AA796142 (SEQ ID NO:206); AA798223 (SEQ ID NO:207); AA734325 (SEQ ID NO:208); AA690871 (SEQ ID NO:209); AA674988 (SEQ ID NO:210); AA674863 (SEQ ID NO:211); AA674821 (SEQ ID NO:212); AA674744 (SEQ ID NO:213); AA671558 (SEQ ID NO:214); AF000381 (SEQ ID NO:215); AF000380 (SEQ ID NO:216); AA637071 (SEQ ID NO:217); AA616314 (SEQ ID NO:218); AA109687 (SEQ ID NO:219); AA608235 (SEQ ID NO:220); AA589050 (SEQ ID NO:221); AA544782 (SEQ ID NO:222); AA522095 (SEQ ID NO:223); AA386821 (SEQ ID NO:224); AA386818 (SEQ ID NO:225); AA386495 (SEQ ID NO:226); AA289278 (SEQ ID NO:227); AA286342 (SEQ ID NO:228); AA276302 (SEQ ID NO:229); AA276123 (SEQ ID NO:230); AA277280 (SEQ ID NO:231); AA273543 (SEQ ID NO:232); U89949 (SEQ ID NO:233); AA208306 (SEQ ID NO:234); AA208089 (SEQ ID NO:235); AA242285 (SEQ ID NO:236); AA139715 (SEQ ID NO:237); AA139709 (SEQ ID NO:238); AA139675 (SEQ ID NO:239); AA139593 (SEQ ID NO:240); AA124010 (SEQ ID NO:241); AA108790 (SEQ ID NO:242); AA108350 (SEQ ID NO:243); AA028831 (SEQ ID NO:244); AA061275 (SEQ ID NO:245); W82933 (SEQ ID NO: 246); AA015571 (SEQ ID NO:247); W71715 (SEQ ID NO:248); W59165 (SEQ ID NO:249); X62753 (SEQ ID NO:250); Z32564 (SEQ ID NO:251); T29279 (SEQ ID NO:252); M25317 (SEQ ID NO:253); M86438 (SEQ ID NO:254); J03922 (SEQ ID NO:255); M64817 (SEQ ID NO:256); L25338 (SEQ ID NO:257); M97701 (SEQ ID NO:258); M97700 (SEQ ID NO:259); M64782 (SEQ ID NO:260); M35069 (SEQ ID NO:261); J05013 (SEQ ID NO:262); M28099 (SEQ ID NO:263); J02876 (SEQ ID NO:264); U08471 (SEQ ID NO:265); U02714 (SEQ ID NO:266); and U02716 (SEQ ID NO:267).

A skilled artisan also recognizes that the scope of the invention is not limited to the specific nonapeptides described in SEQ ID NO:1 through SEQ ID NO:8. The antigens comprising a FBP epitope may be at least about 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, or up to about 30. It is contemplated that any amino acid may be used for additions or filling in for the remainder of sequences in addition to the specific variant sequence provided herein. However, it is preferred that they will be those that will maintain the underlying sequence of FBP.

III. Rational Vaccine Design

The goal of rational vaccine design is to produce structural analogs of biologically active compounds. By creating such analogs, it is possible to fashion vaccines which are more active or stable than the natural molecules, which have different susceptibility to alteration or which may affect the function of various other molecules. In one approach, a skilled artisan generates a three-dimensional structure for the folate binding protein variant of the invention or a fragment thereof. This could be accomplished by X-ray crystallography, computer modeling, or by a combination of both approaches. An alternative approach involves the random replacement of functional groups throughout the folate binding protein variant, and the resulting affect on function is determined.

It also is possible to isolate a folate binding protein variant specific antibody, selected by a functional assay, and then solve its crystal structure. In principle, this approach yields a pharmacore upon which subsequent vaccine design can be based. It is possible to bypass protein crystallography altogether by generating anti-idiotypic antibodies to a functional, pharmacologically active antibody. As a mirror image of a mirror image, the binding site of anti-idiotype would be expected to be an analog of the original antigen. The anti-idiotype could then be used to identify and isolate peptides from banks of chemically- or biologically-produced peptides. Selected peptides would then serve as the vaccine.

Thus, one may design vaccines which have enhanced and improved biological activity, for example, anti-tumor activity, relative to a starting folate binding protein variant of the invention. By virtue of standard chemical isolation procedures and other descriptions herein, sufficient amounts of the folate binding protein variants of the invention can be produced to perform crystallographic studies. In addition, knowledge of the chemical characteristics of these compounds permits computer-employed predictions of structure-function relationships.

IV. Immunological Reagents

It is well known in the art that the immunogenicity of a particular immunogen composition can be enhanced by the use of non-specific stimulators of the immune response, known as adjuvants. Suitable adjuvants include all acceptable immunostimulatory compounds, such as cytokines, chemokines, cofactors, toxins, plasmodia, synthetic compositions or LEEs or CEEs encoding such adjuvants.

Adjuvants that may be used include IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-12, γ-interferon, GMCSP, BCG, aluminum hydroxide, MDP compounds, such as thur-MDP and nor-MDP, CGP (MTP-PE), lipid A, and monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL). RIBI, which contains three components extracted from bacteria, MPL, trehalose dimycolate (TDM) and cell wall skeleton (CWS) in a 2% squalene/Tween 80 emulsion is also contemplated. MHC antigens may even be used. Exemplary, often preferred adjuvants include complete Freund's adjuvant (a non-specific stimulator of the immune response containing killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis), incomplete Freund's adjuvants and aluminum hydroxide adjuvant.

In addition to adjuvants, it may be desirable to coadminister biologic response modifiers (BRM), which have been shown to upregulate T cell immunity or down-regulate suppressor cell activity. Such BRMs include, but are not limited to, Cimetidine (CIM; 1200 mg/d) (Smith/Kline, PA); low-dose Cyclophosphamide (CYP; 300 mg/m2) (Johnson/Mead, NJ), cytokines such as g-interferon, IL-2, or IL-12 or genes encoding proteins involved in immune helper functions, such as B-7.

A variety of routes can be used to administer the vaccines including but not limited to subcutaneous, intramuscular, intradermal, intraepidermal, intravenous and intraperitoneal.

An individual, such as a patient, is injected with vaccine generally as described above. The antigen may be mixed with adjuvant, such as Freund's complete or incomplete adjuvant. Booster administrations with the same vaccine or DNA encoding the same may occur at approximately two-week intervals.

V. Immunotherapeutic Agents

An immunotherapeutic agent generally relies on the use of immune effector cells and molecules to target and destroy cancer cells. The immune effector may be, for example, a folate binding protein variant which is or is similar to a tumor cell antigen. The variant alone may serve as an effector of therapy or it may recruit other cells to actually effect cell killing. The variant also may be conjugated to a drug or toxin (e.g., a chemotherapeutic, a radionuclide, a ricin A chain, a cholera toxin, a pertussis toxin, etc.) and serve merely as a targeting agent. Such antibody conjugates are called immunotoxins, and are well known in the art (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,072, U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,706, U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,447, U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,451, U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,911, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,072, each incorporated herein by reference). Alternatively, the effector may be a lymphocyte carrying a surface molecule that interacts, either directly or indirectly, with a tumor cell target. Various effector cells include cytotoxic T cells and NK cells.

In one aspect of immunotherapy, the tumor cell must bear some marker that is amenable to targeting, i.e., is not present on the majority of other cells. Many tumor markers exist in addition to folate binding protein described herein, and any of these may be suitable for targeting in the context of the present invention. Common tumor markers include carcinoembryonic antigen, prostate specific antigen, urinary tumor associated antigen, fetal antigen, tyrosinase (p97), gp68, TAG-72, HMFG, Sialyl Lewis Antigen, MucA, MucB, PLAP, estrogen receptor, laminin receptor, erb B and p155.

The disclosures presented herein have significant relevance to immunotherapy of human diseases and disorders, including cancer. In using the immunotherapeutic compositions derived from the antigen of the present invention in treatment methods, other standard treatments also may be employed, such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy. However, it is preferred that the immunotherapy be used alone initially as its effectiveness can be readily assessed. Immunotherapies of cancer can broadly be classified as adoptive, passive and active, as described in the following sections, and may be used or produced with the folate binding protein variant antigen of the present invention.

A. Immune Stimulators

A specific aspect of immunotherapy is to use an immune stimulating molecule as an agent, or more preferably in conjunction with another agent, such as, for example, a cytokine such as IL-2, IL-4, IL-12, GM-CSF, tumor necrosis factor; interferons alpha, beta, and gamma; F42K and other cytokine analogs; a chemokine such as, for example, MIP-1, MIP-1beta, MCP-1, RANTES, IL-8; or a growth factor such as, for example, FLT3 ligand.

One particular cytokine contemplated for use in the present invention is tumor necrosis factor. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF; Cachectin) is a glycoprotein that kills some kinds of cancer cells, activates cytokine production, activates macrophages and endothelial cells, promotes the production of collagen and collagenases, is an inflammatory mediator and also a mediator of septic shock, and promotes catabolism, fever and sleep. Some infectious agents cause tumor regression through the stimulation of TNF production. TNF can be quite toxic when used alone in effective doses, so that the optimal regimens probably will use it in lower doses in combination with other drugs. Its immunosuppressive actions are potentiated by gamma-interferon, so that the combination potentially is dangerous. A hybrid of TNF and interferon-a also has been found to possess anti-cancer activity.

Another cytokine specifically contemplate is interferon alpha. Interferon alpha has been used in treatment of hairy cell leukemia, Kaposi's sarcoma, melanoma, carcinoid, renal cell cancer, ovary cancer, bladder cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, mycosis fungoides, multiple myeloma, and chronic granulocytic leukemia.

B. Passive Immunotherapy

A number of different approaches for passive immunotherapy of cancer exist. They may be broadly categorized into the following: injection of vaccine alone; injection of vaccine coupled to toxins or chemotherapeutic agents; injection of vaccine coupled to radioactive isotopes; injection of anti-idiotype vaccine; and finally, purging of tumor cells in bone marrow.

It may be favorable to administer more than one vaccine associated with two different antigens or even vaccine with multiple antigen specificity. Treatment protocols also may include administration of lymphokines or other immune enhancers (Bajorin et al. 1988).

C. Active Immunotherapy

In some embodiments of the invention, active immunotherapy may be employed. In active immunotherapy, a folate binding protein variant (e.g., a peptide or polypeptide), a nucleic acid encoding a folate binding protein variant, and/or additional vaccine components, such as for example, a cell expressing the folate binding protein variant (e.g. a dendritic cell fused with a tumor cell, or an autologous or allogeneic tumor cell composition expressing the antigen), an adjuvant, a recombinant protein, an immunomodulator, and the like is administered (Ravindranath and Morton, 1991; Morton and Ravindranath, 1996; Morton et al., 1992; Okamoto et al., 1997; Kugler et al., 2000; Trefzer et al., 2000; Mitchell et al., 1990; Mitchell et al., 1993).

An antigenic peptide, polypeptide or protein, or an autologous or allogenic tumor cell composition or “vaccine” is administered generally with a distinct bacterial adjuvant (Ravindranath and Morton, 1991; Morton and Ravindranath, 1996; Morton et al., 1992; Mitchell et al., 1990; Mitchell et al., 1993). In melanoma immunotherapy, those patients who elicit high IgM response often survive better than those who elicit no or low IgM antibodies (Morton et al., 1992). IgM antibodies are often transient antibodies and the exception to the rule appears to be anti-ganglioside or anti-carbohydrate antibodies.

D. Adoptive Immunotherapy

In adoptive immunotherapy, the patient's circulating lymphocytes, or tumor infiltrated lymphocytes, are isolated in vitro, activated by lymphokines such as IL-2 or transduced with genes for tumor necrosis, and readministered (Rosenberg et al., 1988; 1989). To achieve this, one would administer to an animal, or human patient, an immunologically effective amount of activated lymphocytes in combination with an adjuvant-incorporated antigenic peptide composition as described herein. The activated lymphocytes will most preferably be the patient's own cells that were earlier isolated from a blood or tumor sample and activated (or “expanded”) in vitro. In certain embodiments, the patient's lymphocytes are cultured or expanded in number or selected for activity, such as immunoreactivity to the antigen. This form of immunotherapy has produced several cases of regression of melanoma and renal carcinoma.

VI. Vaccines

The present invention contemplates vaccines for use in both active and passive immunization embodiments. Immunogenic compositions, proposed to be suitable for use as a vaccine, may be prepared most readily directly from immunogenic CTL-stimulating peptides prepared in a manner disclosed herein. Preferably the antigenic material is extensively dialyzed to remove undesired small molecular weight molecules and/or lyophilized for more ready formulation into a desired vehicle.

The preparation of vaccines which contain peptide sequences as active ingredients is generally well understood in the art, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,608,251; 4,601,903; 4,599,231; 4,599,230; 4,596,792; and 4,578,770, all incorporated herein by reference. Typically, such vaccines are prepared as injectables. Either as liquid solutions or suspensions: solid forms suitable for solution in, or suspension in, liquid prior to injection may also be prepared. The preparation may also be emulsified. The active immunogenic ingredient is often mixed with excipients which are pharmaceutically acceptable and compatible with the active ingredient. Suitable excipients are, for example, water, saline, dextrose, glycerol, ethanol, or the like and combinations thereof. In addition, if desired, the vaccine may contain minor amounts of auxiliary substances such as wetting or emulsifying agents, pH buffering agents, or adjuvants which enhance the effectiveness of the vaccines.

Vaccines may be conventionally administered parenterally, by injection, for example, either subcutaneously or intramuscularly. Additional formulations which are suitable for other modes of administration include suppositories and, in some cases, oral formulations. For suppositories, traditional binders and carriers may include, for example, polyalkalene glycols or triglycerides: such suppositories may be formed from mixtures containing the active ingredient in the range of about 0.5% to about 10%, preferably about 1 to about 2%. Oral formulations include such normally employed excipients as, for example, pharmaceutical grades of mannitol, lactose, starch, magnesium stearate, sodium saccharine, cellulose, magnesium carbonate and the like. These compositions take the form of solutions, suspensions, tablets, pills, capsules, sustained release formulations or powders and contain about 10 to about 95% of active ingredient, preferably about 25 to about 70%.

The peptides of the present invention may be formulated into the vaccine as neutral or salt forms. Pharmaceutically-acceptable salts, include the acid addition salts (formed with the free amino groups of the peptide) and those which are formed with inorganic acids such as, for example, hydrochloric or phosphoric acids, or such organic acids as acetic, oxalic, tartaric, mandelic, and the like. Salts formed with the free carboxyl groups may also be derived from inorganic bases such as, for example, sodium, potassium, ammonium, calcium, or ferric hydroxides, and such organic bases as isopropylamine, trimethylamine, 2-ethylamino ethanol, histidine, procaine, and the like.

The vaccines are administered in a manner compatible with the dosage formulation, and in such amount as will be therapeutically effective and immunogenic. The quantity to be administered depends on the subject to be treated, including, e.g., the capacity of the individual's immune system to synthesize antibodies, and the degree of protection desired. Precise amounts of active ingredient required to be administered depend on the judgment of the practitioner. However, suitable dosage ranges are of the order of several hundred micrograms active ingredient per vaccination. Suitable regimes for initial administration and booster shots are also variable, but are typified by an initial administration followed by subsequent inoculations or other administrations.

The manner of application may be varied widely. Any of the conventional methods for administration of a vaccine are applicable. These are believed to include oral application on a solid physiologically acceptable base or in a physiologically acceptable dispersion, parenterally, by injection or the like. The dosage of the vaccine will depend on the route of administration and will vary according to the size of the host.

Various methods of achieving adjuvant effect for the vaccine includes use of agents such as aluminum hydroxide or phosphate (alum), commonly used as about 0.05 to about 0.1% solution in phosphate buffered saline, admixture with synthetic polymers of sugars (Carbopol®) used as an about 0.25% solution, aggregation of the protein in the vaccine by heat treatment with temperatures ranging between about 70° to about 101° C. for a 30-second to 2-minute period, respectively. Aggregation by reactivating with pepsin treated (Fab) antibodies to albumin, mixture with bacterial cells such as C. parvum or endotoxins or lipopolysaccharide components of Gram-negative bacteria, emulsion in physiologically acceptable oil vehicles such as mannide mono-oleate (Aracel A) or emulsion with a 20% solution of a perfluorocarbon (Fluosol-DA®) used as a block substitute may also be employed.

In many instances, it will be desirable to have multiple administrations of the vaccine, usually not exceeding six vaccinations, more usually not exceeding four vaccinations and preferably one or more, usually at least about three vaccinations. The vaccinations will normally be at from two to twelve week intervals, more usually from three to five week intervals. Periodic boosters at intervals of 1-5 years, usually three years, will be desirable to maintain protective levels of the antibodies. The course of the immunization may be followed by assays for antibodies for the supernatant antigens. The assays may be performed by labeling with conventional labels, such as radionuclides, enzymes, fluorescents, and the like. These techniques are well known and may be found in a wide variety of patents, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,791,932; 4,174,384 and 3,949,064, as illustrative of these types of assays.

For an antigenic composition to be useful as a vaccine, an antigenic composition must induce an immune response to the antigen in a cell, tissue or animal (e.g., a human). As used herein, an “antigenic composition” may comprise an antigen (e.g., a peptide or polypeptide), a nucleic acid encoding an antigen (e.g., an antigen expression vector), or a cell expressing or presenting an antigen. In particular embodiments, the antigenic composition comprises or encodes a folate binding protein variant, or an immunologically functional equivalent thereof. In other embodiments, the antigenic composition is in a mixture that comprises an additional immunostimulatory agent or nucleic acids encoding such an agent. Immunostimulatory agents include but are not limited to an additional antigen, an immunomodulator, an antigen presenting cell or an adjuvant. In other embodiments, one or more of the additional agent(s) is covalently bonded to the antigen or an immunostimulatory agent, in any combination. In certain embodiments, the antigenic composition is conjugated to or comprises an HLA anchor motif amino acids.

In certain embodiments, an antigenic composition or immunologically functional equivalent, may be used as an effective vaccine in inducing an anti-folate binding protein variant humoral and/or cell-mediated immune response in an animal. The present invention contemplates one or more antigenic compositions or vaccines for use in both active and passive immunization embodiments.

A vaccine of the present invention may vary in its composition of proteinaceous, nucleic acid and/or cellular components. In a non-limiting example, a nucleic acid encoding an antigen might also be formulated with a proteinaceous adjuvant. Of course, it will be understood that various compositions described herein may further comprise additional components. For example, one or more vaccine components may be comprised in a lipid or liposome. In another non-limiting example, a vaccine may comprise one or more adjuvants. A vaccine of the present invention, and its various components, may be prepared and/or administered by any method disclosed herein or as would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art, in light of the present disclosure.

A. Proteinaceous Antigens

It is understood that an antigenic composition of the present invention may be made by a method that is well known in the art, including but not limited to chemical synthesis by solid phase synthesis and purification away from the other products of the chemical reactions by HPLC, or production by the expression of a nucleic acid sequence (e.g., a DNA sequence) encoding a peptide or polypeptide comprising an antigen of the present invention in an in vitro translation system or in a living cell. Preferably the antigenic composition is isolated and extensively dialyzed to remove one or more undesired small molecular weight molecules and/or lyophilized for more ready formulation into a desired vehicle. It is further understood that additional amino acids, mutations, chemical modification and the like, if any, that are made in a vaccine component will preferably not substantially interfere with the antibody recognition of the epitopic sequence.

A peptide or polypeptide corresponding to one or more antigenic determinants of the folate binding protein variant of the present invention should generally be at least five or six amino acid residues in length, and may contain up to about 10, about 15, about 20, or more. A peptide sequence may be synthesized by methods known to those of ordinary skill in the art, for example, peptide synthesis using automated peptide synthesis machines, such as those available from Applied Biosystems (Foster City, Calif.).

Longer peptides or polypeptides also may be prepared, e.g., by recombinant means. In certain embodiments, a nucleic acid encoding an antigenic composition and/or a component described herein may be used, for example, to produce an antigenic composition in vitro or in vivo for the various compositions and methods of the present invention. For example, in certain embodiments, a nucleic acid encoding an antigen is comprised in, for example, a vector in a recombinant cell. The nucleic acid may be expressed to produce a peptide or polypeptide comprising an antigenic sequence. The peptide or polypeptide may be secreted from the cell, or comprised as part of or within the cell.

B. Genetic Vaccine Antigens

In certain embodiments, an immune response may be promoted by transfecting or inoculating an animal with a nucleic acid encoding an antigen. One or more cells comprised within a target animal then expresses the sequences encoded by the nucleic acid after administration of the nucleic acid to the animal. Thus, the vaccine may comprise “genetic vaccine” useful for immunization protocols. A vaccine may also be in the form, for example, of a nucleic acid (e.g., a cDNA or an RNA) encoding all or part of the peptide or polypeptide sequence of an antigen. Expression in vivo by the nucleic acid may be, for example, by a plasmid type vector, a viral vector, or a viral/plasmid construct vector.

In preferred aspects, the nucleic acid comprises a coding region that encodes all or part of the sequences disclosed as SEQ ID NO:1 through SEQ ID NO:9, or an immunologically functional equivalent thereof. Of course, the nucleic acid may comprise and/or encode additional sequences, including but not limited to those comprising one or more immunomodulators or adjuvants. The nucleotide and protein, polypeptide and peptide encoding sequences for various genes have been previously disclosed, and may be found at computerized databases known to those of ordinary skill in the art. One such database is the National Center for Biotechnology Information's Genbank and GenPept databases (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). The coding regions for these known genes may be amplified, combined with the nucleic acid sequences encoding the folate binding protein variant disclosed herein (e.g., ligated) and/or expressed using the techniques disclosed herein or by any technique that would be know to those of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., Sambrook et al., 1987). Though a nucleic acid may be expressed in an in vitro expression system, in preferred embodiments the nucleic acid comprises a vector for in vivo replication and/or expression.

C. Cellular Vaccine Antigens

In another embodiment, a cell expressing the antigen may comprise the vaccine. The cell may be isolated from a culture, tissue, organ or organism and administered to an animal as a cellular vaccine. Thus, the present invention contemplates a “cellular vaccine.” The cell may be transfected with a nucleic acid encoding an antigen to enhance its expression of the antigen. Of course, the cell may also express one or more additional vaccine components, such as immunomodulators or adjuvants. A vaccine may comprise all or part of the cell.

D. Immunologically Functional Equivalents

Modification and changes may be made in the structure of the peptides of the present invention and DNA segments which encode them and still obtain a functional molecule that encodes a protein or peptide with desirable characteristics. The following is a discussion based upon changing the amino acids of a protein to create an equivalent, or even an improved, second-generation molecule. The amino acid changes may be achieved by changing the codons of the DNA sequence, according to the following codon table:

TABLE 1 Amino Acids Codons Alanine Ala A GCA GCC GCG GCU Cysteine Cys C UGC UGU Aspartic acid Asp D GAC GAU Glutamic acid Glu E GAA GAG Phenylalanine Phe F UUC UUU Glycine Gly G GGA GGC GGG GGU Histidine His H CAC CAU Isoleucine Ile I AUA AUC AUU Lysine Lys K AAA AAG Leucine Leu L UUA UUG CUA CUC CUG CUU Methionine Met M AUG Asparagine Asn N AAC AAU Proline Pro P CCA CCC CCG CCU Glutamine Gln Q CAA CAG Arginine Arg R AGA AGG CGA CGC CGG CGU Serine Ser S AGC AGU UCA UCC UCG UCU Threonine Thr T ACA ACC ACG ACU Valine Val V GUA GUC GUG GUU Tryptophan Trp W UGG Tyrosine Tyr Y UAC UAU

For example, certain amino acids may be substituted for other amino acids in a protein structure without appreciable loss of interactive binding capacity with structures such as, for example, antigen-binding regions of antibodies or binding sites on substrate molecules. Since it is the interactive capacity and nature of a protein that defines that protein's biological functional activity, certain amino acid sequence substitutions can be made in a protein sequence, and, of course, its underlying DNA coding sequence, and nevertheless obtain a protein with like properties. It is thus contemplated by the inventors that various changes may be made in the peptide sequences of the disclosed compositions, or corresponding DNA sequences which encode the peptides without appreciable loss of their biological utility or activity. Amino acid substitutions may be based on the relative similarity of the amino acid side-chain substituents, for example, their hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, charge, size, and the like. Exemplary substitutions which take various of the foregoing characteristics into consideration are well known to those of skill in the art.

Numerous scientific publications have also been devoted to the prediction of secondary structure, and to the identification of an epitope, from analyses of an amino acid sequence (Chou and Fasman, 1974a,b; 1978a,b, 1979). Any of these may be used, if desired, to supplement the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,101.

Moreover, computer programs are currently available to assist with predicting an antigenic portion and an epitopic core region of one or more proteins, polypeptides or peptides. Examples include those programs based upon the Jameson-Wolf analysis (Jameson & Wolf, 1988; Wolf et al., 1988), the program PepPlot® (Brutlag et al., 1990; Weinberger et al., 1985), and other new programs for protein tertiary structure prediction (Fetrow & Bryant, 1993). Another commercially available software program capable of carrying out such analyses is MacVector (IBI, New Haven, Conn.).

As modifications and changes may be made in the structure of an antigenic composition (e.g., a folate binding protein variant) of the present invention, and still obtain molecules having like or otherwise desirable characteristics, such immunologically functional equivalents are also encompassed within the present invention.

For example, certain amino acids may be substituted for other amino acids in a peptide, polypeptide or protein structure without appreciable loss of interactive binding capacity with structures such as, for example, antigen-binding regions of antibodies, binding sites on substrate molecules or receptors, DNA binding sites, or such like. Since it is the interactive capacity and nature of a peptide, polypeptide or protein that defines its biological (e.g., immunological) functional activity, certain amino acid sequence substitutions can be made in a amino acid sequence (or, of course, its underlying DNA coding sequence) and nevertheless obtain a peptide or polypeptide with like (agonistic) properties. It is thus contemplated by the inventors that various changes may be made in the sequence of an antigenic composition such as, for example a folate binding protein variant peptide or polypeptide, or underlying DNA, without appreciable loss of biological utility or activity.

Accordingly, antigenic composition, particularly an immunologically functional equivalent of the sequences disclosed herein, may encompass an amino molecule sequence comprising at least one of the 20 common amino acids in naturally synthesized proteins, or at least one modified or unnatural amino acid, including but not limited to those shown on Table 2 below.

TABLE 2 Modified, Unnatural or Rare Amino Acids Abbr. Amino Acid Abbr. Amino Acid Aad 2-Aminoadipic acid EtAsn N-Ethylasparagine Baad 3-Aminoadipic acid Hyl Hydroxylysine Bala β-alanine, b-Amino- Ahyl Allo-Hydroxylysine propionic acid Abu 2-Aminobutyric acid 3Hyp 3-Hydroxyproline 4Abu 4-Aminobutyric acid, 4Hyp 4-Hydroxyproline piperidinic acid Acp 6-Aminocaproic acid Ide Isodesmosine Ahe 2-Aminoheptanoic acid Aile Allo-Isoleucine Aib 2-Aminoisobutyric acid MeGly N-Methylglycine, sarcosine Baib 3-Aminoisobutyric acid MeIle N-Methylisoleucine Apm 2-Aminopimelic acid MeLys 6-N-Methyllysine Dbu 2,4-Diaminobutyric acid MeVal N-Methylvaline Des Desmosine Nva Norvaline Dpm 2,2′-Diaminopimelic acid Nle Norleucine Dpr 2,3-Diaminopropionic acid Orn Ornithine EtGly N-Ethylglycine

In terms of immunologically functional equivalent, it is well understood by the skilled artisan that, inherent in the definition is the concept that there is a limit to the number of changes that may be made within a defined portion of the molecule and still result in a molecule with an acceptable level of equivalent immunological activity. An immunologically functional equivalent peptide or polypeptide are thus defined herein as those peptide(s) or polypeptide(s) in which certain, not most or all, of the amino acid(s) may be substituted.

In particular, where a shorter length peptide is concerned, it is contemplated that fewer amino acid substitutions should be made within the given peptide. A longer polypeptide may have an intermediate number of changes. The full-length protein will have the most tolerance for a larger number of changes. Of course, a plurality of distinct polypeptides/peptides with different substitutions may easily be made and used in accordance with the invention.

It also is well understood that where certain residues are shown to be particularly important to the immunological or structural properties of a protein or peptide, e.g., residues in binding regions or active sites, such residues may not generally be exchanged. This is an important consideration in the present invention, where changes in the folate binding protein variant antigenic site should be carefully considered and subsequently tested to ensure maintenance of immunological function (e.g., antigenicity), where maintenance of immunological function is desired. In this manner, functional equivalents are defined herein as those peptides or polypeptides which maintain a substantial amount of their native immunological activity.

Amino acid substitutions are generally based on the relative similarity of the amino acid side-chain substituents, for example, their hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, charge, size, and the like. An analysis of the size, shape and type of the amino acid side-chain substituents reveals that arginine, lysine and histidine are all positively charged residues; that alanine, glycine and serine are all a similar size; and that phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine all have a generally similar shape. Careful selection of a particular amino acid substitution for a peptide, as opposed to a protein, must be considered given the differences in size between peptides and proteins.

In further embodiments, major antigenic determinants of a peptide or polypeptide may be identified by an empirical approach in which portions of a nucleic acid encoding a peptide or polypeptide are expressed in a recombinant host, and the resulting peptide(s) or polypeptide(s) tested for their ability to elicit an immune response. For example, PCR™ can be used to prepare a range of peptides or polypeptides lacking successively longer fragments of the C-terminus of the amino acid sequence. The immunoactivity of each of these peptides or polypeptides is determined to identify those fragments or domains that are immunodominant. Further studies in which only a small number of amino acids are removed at each iteration then allows the location of the antigenic determinant(s) of the peptide or polypeptide to be more precisely determined.

Another method for determining a major antigenic determinant of a peptide or polypeptide is the SPOTs™ system (Genosys Biotechnologies, Inc., The Woodlands, Tex.). In this method, overlapping peptides are synthesized on a cellulose membrane, which following synthesis and deprotection, is screened using a polyclonal or monoclonal antibody. An antigenic determinant of the peptides or polypeptides which are initially identified can be further localized by performing subsequent syntheses of smaller peptides with larger overlaps, and by eventually replacing individual amino acids at each position along the immunoreactive sequence.

Once one or more such analyses are completed, an antigenic composition, such as for example a peptide or a polypeptide is prepared that contain at least the essential features of one or more antigenic determinants. An antigenic composition is then employed in the generation of antisera against the composition, and preferably the antigenic determinant(s).

While discussion has focused on functionally equivalent polypeptides arising from amino acid changes, it will be appreciated that these changes may be effected by alteration of the encoding DNA; taking into consideration also that the genetic code is degenerate and that two or more codons may code for the same amino acid. Nucleic acids encoding these antigenic compositions also can be constructed and inserted into one or more expression vectors by standard methods (Sambrook et al., 1987), for example, using PCR™ cloning methodology.

In addition to the peptidyl compounds described herein, the inventors also contemplate that other sterically similar compounds may be formulated to mimic the key portions of the peptide or polypeptide structure or to interact specifically with, for example, an antibody. Such compounds, which may be termed peptidomimetics, may be used in the same manner as a peptide or polypeptide of the invention and hence are also immunologically functional equivalents.

Certain mimetics that mimic elements of protein secondary structure are described in Johnson et al. (1993). The underlying rationale behind the use of peptide mimetics is that the peptide backbone of proteins exists chiefly to orientate amino acid side chains in such a way as to facilitate molecular interactions, such as those of antibody and antigen. A peptide mimetic is thus designed to permit molecular interactions similar to the natural molecule.

E. Antigen Mutagenesis

In particular embodiments, an antigenic composition is mutated for purposes such as, for example, enhancing its immunogenicity or producing or identifying an immunologically functional equivalent sequence. Methods of mutagenesis are well known to those of skill in the art (Sambrook et al., 1987).

As used herein, the term “oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis procedure” refers to template-dependent processes and vector-mediated propagation which result in an increase in the concentration of a specific nucleic acid molecule relative to its initial concentration, or in an increase in the concentration of a detectable signal, such as amplification. As used herein, the term “oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis procedure” is intended to refer to a process that involves the template-dependent extension of a primer molecule. The term template dependent process refers to nucleic acid synthesis of an RNA or a DNA molecule wherein the sequence of the newly synthesized strand of nucleic acid is dictated by the well-known rules of complementary base pairing (see, for example, Watson, 1987). Typically, vector mediated methodologies involve the introduction of the nucleic acid fragment into a DNA or RNA vector, the clonal amplification of the vector, and the recovery of the amplified nucleic acid fragment. Examples of such methodologies are provided by U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,224, specifically incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In a preferred embodiment, site directed mutagenesis is used. Site-specific mutagenesis is a technique useful in the preparation of an antigenic composition (e.g., a folate binding protein variant-comprising peptide or polypeptide, or immunologically functional equivalent protein, polypeptide or peptide), through specific mutagenesis of the underlying DNA. In general, the technique of site-specific mutagenesis is well known in the art. The technique further provides a ready ability to prepare and test sequence variants, incorporating one or more of the foregoing considerations, by introducing one or more nucleotide sequence changes into the DNA. Site-specific mutagenesis allows the production of a mutant through the use of specific oligonucleotide sequence(s) which encode the DNA sequence of the desired mutation, as well as a sufficient number of adjacent nucleotides, to provide a primer sequence of sufficient size and sequence complexity to form a stable duplex on both sides of the position being mutated. Typically, a primer of about 17 to about 75 nucleotides in length is preferred, with about 10 to about 25 or more residues on both sides of the position being altered, while primers of about 17 to about 25 nucleotides in length being more preferred, with about 5 to 10 residues on both sides of the position being altered.

In general, site-directed mutagenesis is performed by first obtaining a single-stranded vector, or melting of two strands of a double stranded vector which includes within its sequence a DNA sequence encoding the desired protein. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the technique typically employs a bacteriophage vector that exists in both a single stranded and double stranded form. Typical vectors useful in site-directed mutagenesis include vectors such as the M13 phage. These phage vectors are commercially available and their use is generally well known to those skilled in the art. Double stranded plasmids are also routinely employed in site directed mutagenesis, which eliminates the step of transferring the gene of interest from a phage to a plasmid.

This mutagenic primer is then annealed with the single-stranded DNA preparation, and subjected to DNA polymerizing enzymes such as, for example, E. coli polymerase I Klenow fragment, in order to complete the synthesis of the mutation-bearing strand. Thus, a heteroduplex is formed wherein one strand encodes the original non-mutated sequence and the second strand bears the desired mutation. This heteroduplex vector is then used to transform appropriate cells, such as E. coli cells, and clones are selected that include recombinant vectors bearing the mutated sequence arrangement.

Alternatively, a pair of primers may be annealed to two separate strands of a double stranded vector to simultaneously synthesize both corresponding complementary strands with the desired mutation(s) in a PCR™ reaction. A genetic selection scheme to enrich for clones incorporating the mutagenic oligonucleotide has been devised (Kunkel et al., 1987). Alternatively, the use of PCR™ with commercially available thermostable enzymes such as Taq polymerase may be used to incorporate a mutagenic oligonucleotide primer into an amplified DNA fragment that can then be cloned into an appropriate cloning or expression vector (Tomic et al., 1990; Upender et al., 1995). A PCR™ employing a thermostable ligase in addition to a thermostable polymerase also may be used to incorporate a phosphorylated mutagenic oligonucleotide into an amplified DNA fragment that may then be cloned into an appropriate cloning or expression vector (Michael 1994).

The preparation of sequence variants of the selected gene using site-directed mutagenesis is provided as a means of producing potentially useful species and is not meant to be limiting, as there are other ways in which sequence variants of genes may be obtained. For example, recombinant vectors encoding the desired gene may be treated with mutagenic agents, such as hydroxylamine, to obtain sequence variants.

Additionally, one particularly useful mutagenesis technique is alanine scanning mutagenesis in which a number of residues are substituted individually with the amino acid alanine so that the effects of losing side-chain interactions can be determined, while minimizing the risk of large-scale perturbations in protein conformation (Cunningham et al., 1989).

F. Vectors

In order to effect replication, expression or mutagenesis of a nucleic acid, the nucleic acid may be delivered (“transfected”) into a cell. The tranfection of cells may be used, in certain embodiments, to recombinately produce one or more vaccine components for subsequent purification and preparation into a pharmaceutical vaccine. In other embodiments, the nucleic acid may be comprised as a genetic vaccine that is administered to an animal. In other embodiments, the nucleic acid is transfected into a cell and the cell administered to an animal as a cellular vaccine component. The nucleic acid may consist only of naked recombinant DNA, or may comprise, for example, additional materials to protect the nucleic acid and/or aid its targeting to specific cell types.

The term “vector” is used to refer to a carrier nucleic acid molecule into which a nucleic acid sequence can be inserted for introduction into a cell where it can be replicated. A nucleic acid sequence can be “exogenous,” which means that it is foreign to the cell into which the vector is being introduced or that the sequence is homologous to a sequence in the cell but in a position within the host cell nucleic acid in which the sequence is ordinarily not found. Vectors include plasmids, cosmids, viruses (bacteriophage, animal viruses, and plant viruses), and artificial chromosomes (e.g., YACs). One of skill in the art would be well equipped to construct a vector through standard recombinant techniques (see, for example, Maniatis et al., 1988 and Ausubel et al., 1994, both incorporated herein by reference).

The term “expression vector” refers to any type of genetic construct comprising a nucleic acid coding for a RNA capable of being transcribed. In some cases, RNA molecules are then translated into a protein, polypeptide, or peptide. In other cases, these sequences are not translated, for example, in the production of antisense molecules or ribozymes. Expression vectors can contain a variety of “control sequences,” which refer to nucleic acid sequences necessary for the transcription and possibly translation of an operably linked coding sequence in a particular host cell.

The nucleic acid encoding the antigenic composition or other vaccine component may be stably integrated into the genome of the cell, or may be stably maintained in the cell as a separate, episomal segment of DNA. Such nucleic acid segments or “episomes” encode sequences sufficient to permit maintenance and replication independent of or in synchronization with the host cell cycle. Vectors and expression vectors may contain nucleic acid sequences that serve other functions as well and are described infra. How the expression construct is delivered to a cell and where in the cell the nucleic acid remains is dependent on the type of expression construct employed.

1. Promoters and Enhancers

A “promoter” is a control sequence that is a region of a nucleic acid sequence at which initiation and rate of transcription are controlled. It may contain genetic elements at which regulatory proteins and molecules may bind, such as RNA polymerase and other transcription factors, to initiate the specific transcription a nucleic acid sequence. The phrases “operatively positioned,” “operatively linked,” “under control,” and “under transcriptional control” mean that a promoter is in a correct functional location and/or orientation in relation to a nucleic acid sequence to control transcriptional initiation and/or expression of that sequence.

A promoter generally comprises a sequence that functions to position the start site for RNA synthesis. The best known example of this is the TATA box, but in some promoters lacking a TATA box, such as, for example, the promoter for the mammalian terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase gene and the promoter for the SV40 late genes, a discrete element overlying the start site itself helps to fix the place of initiation. Additional promoter elements regulate the frequency of transcriptional initiation. Typically, these are located in the region 30-110 bp upstream of the start site, although a number of promoters have been shown to contain functional elements downstream of the start site as well. To bring a coding sequence “under the control of” a promoter, one positions the 5′ end of the transcription initiation site of the transcriptional reading frame “downstream” of (i.e., 3′ of) the chosen promoter. The “upstream” promoter stimulates transcription of the DNA and promotes expression of the encoded RNA.

The spacing between promoter elements frequently is flexible, so that promoter function is preserved when elements are inverted or moved relative to one another. In the tk promoter, the spacing between promoter elements can be increased to 50 bp apart before activity begins to decline. Depending on the promoter, it appears that individual elements can function either cooperatively or independently to activate transcription. A promoter may or may not be used in conjunction with an “enhancer,” which refers to a cis-acting regulatory sequence involved in the transcriptional activation of a nucleic acid sequence.

A promoter may be one naturally associated with a nucleic acid sequence, as may be obtained by isolating the 5′ non-coding sequences located upstream of the coding segment and/or exon. Such a promoter can be referred to as “endogenous.” Similarly, an enhancer may be one naturally associated with a nucleic acid sequence, located either downstream or upstream of that sequence. Alternatively, certain advantages will be gained by positioning the coding nucleic acid segment under the control of a recombinant or heterologous promoter, which refers to a promoter that is not normally associated with a nucleic acid sequence in its natural environment. A recombinant or heterologous enhancer refers also to an enhancer not normally associated with a nucleic acid sequence in its natural environment. Such promoters or enhancers may include promoters or enhancers of other genes, and promoters or enhancers isolated from any other virus, or prokaryotic or eukaryotic cell, and promoters or enhancers not “naturally occurring,” i.e., containing different elements of different transcriptional regulatory regions, and/or mutations that alter expression. For example, promoters that are most commonly used in recombinant DNA construction include the β-lactamase (penicillinase), lactose and tryptophan (trp) promoter systems. In addition to producing nucleic acid sequences of promoters and enhancers synthetically, sequences may be produced using recombinant cloning and/or nucleic acid amplification technology, including PCR™, in connection with the compositions disclosed herein (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,202 and 5,928,906, each incorporated herein by reference). Furthermore, it is contemplated the control sequences that direct transcription and/or expression of sequences within non-nuclear organelles such as mitochondria, chloroplasts, and the like, can be employed as well.

Naturally, it will be important to employ a promoter and/or enhancer that effectively directs the expression of the DNA segment in the organelle, cell type, tissue, organ, or organism chosen for expression. Those of skill in the art of molecular biology generally know the use of promoters, enhancers, and cell type combinations for protein expression, (see, for example Sambrook et al. 1989, incorporated herein by reference). The promoters employed may be constitutive, tissue-specific, inducible, and/or useful under the appropriate conditions to direct high level expression of the introduced DNA segment, such as is advantageous in the large-scale production of recombinant proteins and/or peptides. The promoter may be heterologous or endogenous.

Additionally any promoter/enhancer combination (as per, for example, the Eukaryotic Promoter Data Base EPDB, http://www.epd.isb-sib.ch/) could also be used to drive expression. Use of a T3, T7 or SP6 cytoplasmic expression system is another possible embodiment. Eukaryotic cells can support cytoplasmic transcription from certain bacterial promoters if the appropriate bacterial polymerase is provided, either as part of the delivery complex or as an additional genetic expression construct.

Table 3 lists non-limiting examples of elements/promoters that may be employed, in the context of the present invention, to regulate the expression of a RNA. Table 4 provides non-limiting examples of inducible elements, which are regions of a nucleic acid sequence that can be activated in response to a specific stimulus.

TABLE 3 Promoter and/or Enhancer Promoter/Enhancer References Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain Banerji et al., 1983; Gilles et al., 1983; Grosschedl et al., 1985; Atchinson et al., 1986, 1987; Imler et al., 1987; Weinberger et al., 1984; Kiledjian et al., 1988; Porton et al.; 1990 Immunoglobulin Light Chain Queen et al., 1983; Picard et al., 1984 T-Cell Receptor Luria et al., 1987; Winoto et al., 1989; Redondo et al.; 1990 HLA DQ a and/or DQ β Sullivan et al., 1987 β-Interferon Goodbourn et al., 1986; Fujita et al., 1987; Goodbourn et al., 1988 Interleukin-2 Greene et al., 1989 Interleukin-2 Receptor Greene et al., 1989; Lin et al., 1990 MHC Class II 5 Koch et al., 1989 MHC Class II HLA-DRa Sherman et al., 1989 β-Actin Kawamoto et al., 1988; Ng et al.; 1989 Muscle Creatine Kinase (MCK) Jaynes et al., 1988; Horlick et al., 1989; Johnson et al., 1989 Prealbumin (Transthyretin) Costa et al., 1988 Elastase I Omitz et al., 1987 Metallothionein (MTII) Karin et al., 1987; Culotta et al., 1989 Collagenase Pinkert et al., 1987; Angel et al., 1987 Albumin Pinkert et al., 1987; Tronche et al., 1989, 1990 α-Fetoprotein Godbout et al., 1988; Campere et al., 1989 t-Globin Bodine et al., 1987; Perez-Stable et al., 1990 β-Globin Trudel et al., 1987 c-fos Cohen et al., 1987 c-HA-ras Triesman, 1986; Deschamps et al., 1985 Insulin Edlund et al., 1985 Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule Hirsh et al., 1990 (NCAM) α₁-Antitrypain Latimer et al., 1990 Promoter/Enhancer References H2B (TH2B) Histone Hwang et al., 1990 Mouse and/or Type I Collagen Ripe et al., 1989 Glucose-Regulated Proteins Chang et al., 1989 (GRP94 and GRP78) Rat Growth Hormone Larsen et al., 1986 Human Serum Amyloid A (SAA) Edbrooke et al., 1989 Troponin I (TN I) Yutzey et al., 1989 Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Pech et al., 1989 (PDGF) Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Klamut et al., 1990 SV40 Banerji et al., 1981; Moreau et al., 1981; Sleigh et al., 1985; Firak et al., 1986; Herr et al., 1986; Imbra et al., 1986; Kadesch et al., 1986; Wang et al., 1986; Ondek et al., 1987; Kuhl et al., 1987; Schaffner et al., 1988 Polyoma Swartzendruber et al., 1975; Vasseur et al., 1980; Katinka et al., 1980, 1981; Tyndell et al., 1981; Dandolo et al., 1983; de Villiers et al., 1984; Hen et al., 1986; Satake et al., 1988; Campbell and/or Villarreal, 1988 Retroviruses Kriegler et al., 1982, 1983; Levinson et al., 1982; Kriegler et al., 1983, 1984a, b, 1988; Bosze et al., 1986; Miksicek et al., 1986; Celander et al., 1987; Thiesen et al., 1988; Celander et al., 1988; Chol et al., 1988; Reisman et al., 1989 Papilloma Virus Campo et al., 1983; Lusky et al., 1983; Spandidos and/or Wilkie, 1983; Spalholz et al., 1985; Lusky et al., 1986; Cripe et al., 1987; Gloss et al., 1987; Hirochika et al., 1987; Stephens et al., 1987; Glue et al., 1988 Hepatitis B Virus Bulla et al., 1986; Jameel et al., 1986; Shaul et al., 1987; Spandau et al., 1988; Vannice et al., 1988 Human Immunodeficiency Virus Muesing et al., 1987; Hauber et al., 1988; Jakobovits et al., 1988; Feng et al., 1988; Takebe et al., 1988; Rosen et al., 1988; Berkhout et al., 1989; Laspia et al., 1989; Sharp et al., 1989; Braddock et al., 1989 Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Weber et al., 1984; Boshart et al., 1985; Foecking et al., 1986 Gibbon Ape Leukemia Virus Holbrook et al., 1987; Quinn et al., 1989

TABLE 4 Inducible Elements Element Inducer References MT II Phorbol Ester (TFA) Palmiter et al., 1982; Haslinger et Heavy metals al., 1985; Searle et al., 1985; Stuart et al., 1985; Imagawa et al., 1987, Karin et al., 1987; Angel et al., 1987b; McNeall et al., 1989 MMTV (mouse mammary Glucocorticoids Huang et al., 1981; Lee et al., tumor virus) 1981; Majors et al., 1983; Chandler et al., 1983; Lee et al., 1984; Ponta et al., 1985; Sakai et al., 1988 β-Interferon poly(rI) × Tavernier et al., 1983 poly(rc) Adenovirus 5 E2 ElA Imperiale et al., 1984 Collagenase Phorbol Ester (TPA) Angel et al., 1987a Stromelysin Phorbol Ester (TPA) Angel et al., 1987b SV40 Phorbol Ester (TPA) Angel et al., 1987b Murine MX Gene Interferon, Newcastle Hug et al., 1988 Disease Virus GRP78 Gene A23187 Resendez et al., 1988 α-2-Macroglobulin IL-6 Kunz et al., 1989 Vimentin Serum Rittling et al., 1989 MHC Class I Gene H-2κb Interferon Blanar et al., 1989 HSP70 ElA, SV40 Large T Taylor et al., 1989, 1990a, 1990b Antigen Proliferin Phorbol Ester-TPA Mordacq et al., 1989 Tumor Necrosis Factor PMA Hensel et al., 1989 Thyroid Stimulating Thyroid Hormone Chatterjee et al., 1989 Hormone α Gene

The identity of tissue-specific promoters or elements, as well as assays to characterize their activity, is well known to those of skill in the art. Nonlimiting examples of such regions include the human LIMK2 gene (Nomoto et al. 1999), the somatostatin receptor 2 gene (Kraus et al., 1998), murine epididymal retinoic acid-binding gene (Lareyre et al., 1999), human CD4 (Zhao-Emonet et al., 1998), mouse alpha2 (XI) collagen (Tsumaki, et al., 1998), DIA dopamine receptor gene (Lee, et al., 1997), insulin-like growth factor II (Wu et al., 1997), and human platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (Almendro et al., 1996).

2. Initiation Signals and Internal Ribosome Binding Sites

A specific initiation signal also may be required for efficient translation of coding sequences. These signals include the ATG initiation codon or adjacent sequences. Exogenous translational control signals, including the ATG initiation codon, may need to be provided. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily be capable of determining this and providing the necessary signals. It is well known that the initiation codon must be “in-frame” with the reading frame of the desired coding sequence to ensure translation of the entire insert. The exogenous translational control signals and initiation codons can be either natural or synthetic. The efficiency of expression may be enhanced by the inclusion of appropriate transcription enhancer elements.

In certain embodiments of the invention, the use of internal ribosome entry sites (IRES) elements are used to create multigene, or polycistronic, messages. IRES elements are able to bypass the ribosome scanning model of 5′ methylated Cap dependent translation and begin translation at internal sites (Pelletier and Sonenberg, 1988). IRES elements from two members of the picornavirus family (polio and encephalomyocarditis) have been described (Pelletier and Sonenberg, 1988), as well an IRES from a mammalian message (Macejak and Sarnow, 1991). IRES elements can be linked to heterologous open reading frames. Multiple open reading frames can be transcribed together, each separated by an IRES, creating polycistronic messages. By virtue of the IRES element, each open reading frame is accessible to ribosomes for efficient translation. Multiple genes can be efficiently expressed using a single promoter/enhancer to transcribe a single message (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,925,565 and 5,935,819, each herein incorporated by reference).

3. Multiple Cloning Sites

Vectors can include a multiple cloning site (MCS), which is a nucleic acid region that contains multiple restriction enzyme sites, any of which can be used in conjunction with standard recombinant technology to digest the vector (see, for example, Carbonelli et al., 1999, Levenson et al., 1998, and Cocea, 1997, incorporated herein by reference.) “Restriction enzyme digestion” refers to catalytic cleavage of a nucleic acid molecule with an enzyme that functions only at specific locations in a nucleic acid molecule. Many of these restriction enzymes are commercially available. Use of such enzymes is widely understood by those of skill in the art. Frequently, a vector is linearized or fragmented using a restriction enzyme that cuts within the MCS to enable exogenous sequences to be ligated to the vector. “Ligation” refers to the process of forming phosphodiester bonds between two nucleic acid fragments, which may or may not be contiguous with each other. Techniques involving restriction enzymes and ligation reactions are well known to those of skill in the art of recombinant technology.

4. Splicing Sites

Most transcribed eukaryotic RNA molecules will undergo RNA splicing to remove introns from the primary transcripts. Vectors containing genomic eukaryotic sequences may require donor and/or acceptor splicing sites to ensure proper processing of the transcript for protein expression (see, for example, Chandler et al., 1997, herein incorporated by reference.)

5. Termination Signals

The vectors or constructs of the present invention will generally comprise at least one termination signal. A “termination signal” or “terminator” is comprised of the DNA sequences involved in specific termination of an RNA transcript by an RNA polymerase. Thus, in certain embodiments a termination signal that ends the production of an RNA transcript is contemplated. A terminator may be necessary in vivo to achieve desirable message levels.

In eukaryotic systems, the terminator region may also comprise specific DNA sequences that permit site-specific cleavage of the new transcript so as to expose a polyadenylation site. This signals a specialized endogenous polymerase to add a stretch of about 200 A residues (polyA) to the 3′ end of the transcript. RNA molecules modified with this polyA tail appear to more stable and are translated more efficiently. Thus, in other embodiments involving eukaryotes, it is preferred that that terminator comprises a signal for the cleavage of the RNA, and it is more preferred that the terminator signal promotes polyadenylation of the message. The terminator and/or polyadenylation site elements can serve to enhance message levels and to minimize read through from the cassette into other sequences.

Terminators contemplated for use in the invention include any known terminator of transcription described herein or known to one of ordinary skill in the art, including but not limited to, for example, the termination sequences of genes, such as for example the bovine growth hormone terminator or viral termination sequences, such as for example the SV40 terminator. In certain embodiments, the termination signal may be a lack of transcribable or translatable sequence, such as due to a sequence truncation.

6. Polyadenylation Signals

In expression, particularly eukaryotic expression, one will typically include a polyadenylation signal to effect proper polyadenylation of the transcript. The nature of the polyadenylation signal is not believed to be crucial to the successful practice of the invention, and any such sequence may be employed. Preferred embodiments include the SV40 polyadenylation signal or the bovine growth hormone polyadenylation signal, convenient and known to function well in various target cells. Polyadenylation may increase the stability of the transcript or may facilitate cytoplasmic transport.

7. Origins of Replication

In order to propagate a vector in a host cell, it may contain one or more origins of replication sites (often termed “ori”), which is a specific nucleic acid sequence at which replication is initiated. Alternatively an autonomously replicating sequence (ARS) can be employed if the host cell is yeast.

8. Selectable and Screenable Markers

In certain embodiments of the invention, cells containing a nucleic acid construct of the present invention may be identified in vitro or in vivo by including a marker in the expression vector. Such markers would confer an identifiable change to the cell permitting easy identification of cells containing the expression vector. Generally, a selectable marker is one that confers a property that allows for selection. A positive selectable marker is one in which the presence of the marker allows for its selection, while a negative selectable marker is one in which its presence prevents its selection. An example of a positive selectable marker is a drug resistance marker.

Usually the inclusion of a drug selection marker aids in the cloning and identification of transformants, for example, genes that confer resistance to neomycin, puromycin, hygromycin, DHFR, GPT, zeocin and histidinol are useful selectable markers. In addition to markers conferring a phenotype that allows for the discrimination of transformants based on the implementation of conditions, other types of markers including screenable markers such as GFP, whose basis is calorimetric analysis, are also contemplated. Alternatively, screenable enzymes such as herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (tk) or chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) may be utilized. One of skill in the art would also know how to employ immunologic markers, possibly in conjunction with FACS analysis. The marker used is not believed to be important, so long as it is capable of being expressed simultaneously with the nucleic acid encoding a gene product. Further examples of selectable and screenable markers are well known to one of skill in the art.

9. Plasmid Vectors

In certain embodiments, a plasmid vector is contemplated for use to transform a host cell. In general, plasmid vectors containing replicon and control sequences which are derived from species compatible with the host cell are used in connection with these hosts. The vector ordinarily carries a replication site, as well as marking sequences which are capable of providing phenotypic selection in transformed cells. In a non-limiting example, E. coli is often transformed using derivatives of pBR322, a plasmid derived from an E. coli species. pBR322 contains genes for ampicillin and tetracycline resistance and thus provides easy means for identifying transformed cells. The pBR plasmid, or other microbial plasmid or phage must also contain, or be modified to contain, for example, promoters which can be used by the microbial organism for expression of its own proteins.

In addition, phage vectors containing replicon and control sequences that are compatible with the host microorganism can be used as transforming vectors in connection with these hosts. For example, the phage lambda GEMTMλ11 may be utilized in making a recombinant phage vector which can be used to transform host cells, such as, for example, E. coli LE392.

Further useful plasmid vectors include pIN vectors (Inouye et al., 1985); and pGEX vectors, for use in generating glutathione S-transferase (GST) soluble fusion proteins for later purification and separation or cleavage. Other suitable fusion proteins are those with β-galactosidase, ubiquitin, and the like.

Bacterial host cells, for example, E. coli, comprising the expression vector, are grown in any of a number of suitable media, for example, LB. The expression of the recombinant protein in certain vectors may be induced, as would be understood by those of skill in the art, by contacting a host cell with an agent specific for certain promoters, e.g., by adding IPTG to the media or by switching incubation to a higher temperature. After culturing the bacteria for a further period, generally of between 2 and 24 h, the cells are collected by centrifugation and washed to remove residual media.

10. Viral Vectors

The ability of certain viruses to infect cells or enter cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis, and to integrate into host cell genome and express viral genes stably and efficiently have made them attractive candidates for the transfer of foreign nucleic acids into cells (e.g., mammalian cells). Vaccine components of the present invention may be a viral vector that encode one or more folate binding protein variant antigenic compositions or other components such as, for example, a folate binding protein variant immunomodulator or adjuvant. Non-limiting examples of virus vectors that may be used to deliver a nucleic acid of the present invention are described below.

a. Adenoviral Vectors

A particular method for delivery of the nucleic acid involves the use of an adenovirus expression vector. Although adenovirus vectors are known to have a low capacity for integration into genomic DNA, this feature is counterbalanced by the high efficiency of gene transfer afforded by these vectors. “Adenovirus expression vector” is meant to include those constructs containing adenovirus sequences sufficient to (a) support packaging of the construct and (b) to ultimately express a tissue or cell-specific construct that has been cloned therein. Knowledge of the genetic organization or adenovirus, a 36 kb, linear, double-stranded DNA virus, allows substitution of large pieces of adenoviral DNA with foreign sequences up to 7 kb (Grunhaus and Horwitz, 1992).

b. AAV Vectors

The nucleic acid may be introduced into the cell using adenovirus assisted transfection. Increased transfection efficiencies have been reported in cell systems using adenovirus coupled systems (Kelleher and Vos, 1994; Cotten et al., 1992; Curiel, 1994). Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is an attractive vector system for use in the folate binding protein variant vaccines of the present invention as it has a high frequency of integration and it can infect nondividing cells, thus making it useful for delivery of genes into mammalian cells, for example, in tissue culture (Muzyczka, 1992) or in vivo. AAV has a broad host range for infectivity (Tratschin et al., 1984; Laughlin et al., 1986; Lebkowski et al., 1988; McLaughlin et al., 1988). Details concerning the generation and use of rAAV vectors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,139,941 and 4,797,368, each incorporated herein by reference.

C. Retroviral Vectors

Retroviruses have promise as folate binding protein variant antigen delivery vectors in vaccines due to their ability to integrate their genes into the host genome, transferring a large amount of foreign genetic material, infecting a broad spectrum of species and cell types and of being packaged in special cell lines (Miller, 1992).

In order to construct a folate binding protein variant vaccine retroviral vector, a nucleic acid (e.g., one encoding an folate binding protein variant antigen of interest) is inserted into the viral genome in the place of certain viral sequences to produce a virus that is replication-defective. In order to produce virions, a packaging cell line containing the gag, pol, and env genes but without the LTR and packaging components is constructed (Mann et al., 1983). When a recombinant plasmid containing a cDNA, together with the retroviral LTR and packaging sequences is introduced into a special cell line (e.g., by calcium phosphate precipitation for example), the packaging sequence allows the RNA transcript of the recombinant plasmid to be packaged into viral particles, which are then secreted into the culture media (Nicolas and Rubenstein, 1988; Temin, 1986; Mann et al., 1983). The media containing the recombinant retroviruses is then collected, optionally concentrated, and used for gene transfer. Retroviral vectors are able to infect a broad variety of cell types. However, integration and stable expression require the division of host cells (Paskind et al., 1975).

Lentiviruses are complex retroviruses, which, in addition to the common retroviral genes gag, pol, and env, contain other genes with regulatory or structural function. Lentiviral vectors are well known in the art (see, for example, Naldini et al., 1996; Zufferey et al., 1997; Blomer et al., 1997; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,013,516 and 5,994,136). Some examples of lentivirus include the Human Immunodeficiency Viruses: HIV-1, HIV-2 and the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus: SIV. Lentiviral vectors have been generated by multiply attenuating the HIV virulence genes, for example, the genes env, vif, vpr, vpu and nef are deleted making the vector biologically safe.

Recombinant lentiviral vectors are capable of infecting non-dividing cells and can be used for both in vivo and ex vivo gene transfer and expression of nucleic acid sequences. For example, recombinant lentivirus capable of infecting a non-dividing cell wherein a suitable host cell is transfected with two or more vectors carrying the packaging functions, namely gag, pol and env, as well as rev and tat is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,994,136, incorporated herein by reference. One may target the recombinant virus by linkage of the envelope protein with an antibody or a particular ligand for targeting to a receptor of a particular cell-type. By inserting a sequence (including a regulatory region) of interest into the viral vector, along with another gene which encodes the ligand for a receptor on a specific target cell, for example, the vector is now target-specific.

d. Other Viral Vectors

Other viral vectors may be employed as vaccine constructs in the present invention. Vectors derived from viruses such as vaccinia virus (Ridgeway, 1988; Baichwal and Sugden, 1986; Coupar et al., 1988), sindbis virus, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus may be employed. They offer several attractive features for various mammalian cells (Friedmann, 1989; Ridgeway, 1988; Baichwal and Sugden, 1986; Coupar et al., 1988; Horwich et al., 1990).

e. Vaccine Delivery Using Modified Viruses

A nucleic acid to be delivered may be housed within an infective virus that has been engineered to express a specific binding ligand. The virus particle will thus bind specifically to the cognate receptors of the target cell and deliver the contents to the cell. A novel approach designed to allow specific targeting of retrovirus vectors was recently developed based on the chemical modification of a retrovirus by the chemical addition of lactose residues to the viral envelope. This modification can permit the specific infection of hepatocytes via sialoglycoprotein receptors.

Another approach to targeting of recombinant retroviruses was designed in which biotinylated antibodies against a retroviral envelope protein and against a specific cell receptor were used. The antibodies were coupled via the biotin components by using streptavidin (Roux et al., 1989). Using antibodies against major histocompatibility complex class I and class II antigens, they demonstrated the infection of a variety of human cells that bore those surface antigens with an ecotropic virus in vitro (Roux et al., 1989). Thus, it is contemplated that antibodies, specific binding ligands and/or other targeting moieties may be used to specifically transfect APC types.

11. Vector Delivery and Cell Transformation

Suitable methods for nucleic acid delivery for transformation of an organelle, a cell, a tissue or an organism for use with the current invention are believed to include virtually any method by which a nucleic acid (e.g., DNA) can be introduced into an organelle, a cell, a tissue or an organism, as described herein or as would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Such methods include, but are not limited to, direct delivery of DNA such as by injection (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,994,624, 5,981,274, 5,945,100, 5,780,448, 5,736,524, 5,702,932, 5,656,610, 5,589,466 and 5,580,859, each incorporated herein by reference), including microinjection (Harlan and Weintraub, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,215, incorporated herein by reference); by electroporation (U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,253, incorporated herein by reference; Tur-Kaspa et al., 1986; Potter et al., 1984); by calcium phosphate precipitation (Graham and Van Der Eb, 1973; Chen and Okayama, 1987; Rippe et al., 1990); by using DEAE-dextran followed by polyethylene glycol (Gopal, 1985); by direct sonic loading (Fechheimer et al., 1987); by liposome mediated transfection (Nicolau and Sene, 1982; Fraley et al., 1979; Nicolau et al., 1987; Wong et al., 1980; Kaneda et al., 1989; Kato et al., 1991) and receptor-mediated transfection (Wu and Wu, 1987; Wu and Wu, 1988); by microprojectile bombardment (PCT Application Nos. WO 94/09699 and 95/06128; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,610,042; 5,322,783 5,563,055, 5,550,318, 5,538,877 and 5,538,880, and each incorporated herein by reference); by agitation with silicon carbide fibers (Kaeppler et al., 1990; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,302,523 and 5,464,765, each incorporated herein by reference); by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,591,616 and 5,563,055, each incorporated herein by reference); or by PEG-mediated transformation of protoplasts (Omirulleh et al., 1993; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,684,611 and 4,952,500, each incorporated herein by reference); by desiccation/inhibition-mediated DNA uptake (Potrykus et al., 1985), and any combination of such methods. Through the application of techniques such as these, organelle(s), cell(s), tissue(s) or organism(s) may be stably or transiently transformed.

a. Injection

In certain embodiments, a nucleic acid may be delivered to an organelle, a cell, a tissue or an organism via one or more injections (i.e., a needle injection). Methods of injection of nucleic acids are described herein, and are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Further embodiments of the present invention include the introduction of a nucleic acid by direct microinjection to a cell. Direct microinjection has been used to introduce nucleic acid constructs into Xenopus oocytes (Harland and Weintraub, 1985). The amount of folate binding protein variant used may vary upon the nature of the antigen as well as the organelle, cell, tissue or organism used

b. Electroporation

In certain embodiments of the present invention, a nucleic acid is introduced into an organelle, a cell, a tissue or an organism via electroporation. Electroporation involves the exposure of a suspension of cells and DNA to a high-voltage electric discharge. In some variants of this method, certain cell wall-degrading enzymes, such as pectin-degrading enzymes, are employed to render the target recipient cells more susceptible to transformation by electroporation than untreated cells (U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,253, incorporated herein by reference). Alternatively, recipient cells can be made more susceptible to transformation by mechanical wounding.

Transfection of eukaryotic cells using electroporation has been quite successful. Mouse pre-B lymphocytes have been transfected with human kappa-immunoglobulin genes (Potter et al., 1984), and rat hepatocytes have been transfected with the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene (Tur-Kaspa et al., 1986) in this manner.

To effect transformation by electroporation in cells such as, for example, plant cells, one may employ either friable tissues, such as a suspension culture of cells or embryogenic callus or alternatively one may transform immature embryos or other organized tissue directly. In this technique, one would partially degrade the cell walls of the chosen cells by exposing them to pectin-degrading enzymes (pectolyases) or mechanically wounding in a controlled manner. Examples of some species which have been transformed by electroporation of intact cells include maize (U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,253; Rhodes et al., 1995; D'Halluin et al., 1992), wheat (Zhou et al., 1993), tomato (Hou and Lin, 1996), soybean (Christou et al., 1987) and tobacco (Lee et al., 1989).

One also may employ protoplasts for electroporation transformation of plant cells (Bates, 1994; Lazzeri, 1995). For example, the generation of transgenic soybean plants by electroporation of cotyledon-derived protoplasts is described by Dhir and Widholm in International Patent Application No. WO 9217598, incorporated herein by reference. Other examples of species for which protoplast transformation has been described include barley (Lazerri, 1995), sorghum (Battraw et al., 1991), maize (Bhattacharjee et al., 1997), wheat (He et al., 1994) and tomato (Tsukada, 1989).

c. Calcium Phosphate

In other embodiments of the present invention, a nucleic acid is introduced to the cells using calcium phosphate precipitation. Human KB cells have been transfected with adenovirus 5 DNA (Graham and Van Der Eb, 1973) using this technique. Also in this manner, mouse L(A9), mouse C127, CHO, CV-1, BHK, NIH3T3 and HeLa cells were transfected with a neomycin marker gene (Chen and Okayama, 1987), and rat hepatocytes were transfected with a variety of marker genes (Rippe et al., 1990).

d. DEAE-Dextran

In another embodiment, a nucleic acid is delivered into a cell using DEAE-dextran followed by polyethylene glycol. In this manner, reporter plasmids were introduced into mouse myeloma and erythroleukemia cells (Gopal, 1985).

e. Liposome-Mediated Transfection

In a further embodiment of the invention, one or more vaccine components or nucleic acids may be entrapped in a lipid complex such as, for example, a liposome. Liposomes are vesicular structures characterized by a phospholipid bilayer membrane and an inner aqueous medium. Multilamellar liposomes have multiple lipid layers separated by aqueous medium. They form spontaneously when phospholipids are suspended in an excess of aqueous solution. The lipid components undergo self-rearrangement before the formation of closed structures and entrap water and dissolved solutes between the lipid bilayers (Ghosh and Bachhawat, 1991). Also contemplated is an nucleic acid complexed with Lipofectamine (Gibco BRL) or Superfect (Qiagen).

Liposome-mediated nucleic acid delivery and expression of foreign DNA in vitro has been very successful (Nicolau and Sene, 1982; Fraley et al., 1979; Nicolau et al., 1987). The feasibility of liposome-mediated delivery and expression of foreign DNA in cultured chick embryo, HeLa and hepatoma cells has also been demonstrated (Wong et al., 1980).

In certain embodiments of the invention, a liposome may be complexed with a hemagglutinating virus (HVJ). This has been shown to facilitate fusion with the cell membrane and promote cell entry of liposome-encapsulated DNA (Kaneda et al., 1989). In other embodiments, a liposome may be complexed or employed in conjunction with nuclear non-histone chromosomal proteins (HMG-1) (Kato et al., 1991). In yet further embodiments, a liposome may be complexed or employed in conjunction with both HVJ and HMG-1. In other embodiments, a delivery vehicle may comprise a ligand and a liposome.

f. Receptor Mediated Transfection

One or more vaccine components or nucleic acids, may be employed to delivered using a receptor-mediated delivery vehicle. These take advantage of the selective uptake of macromolecules by receptor-mediated endocytosis that will be occurring in the target cells. In view of the cell type-specific distribution of various receptors, this delivery method adds another degree of specificity to the present invention. Specific delivery in the context of another mammalian cell type has been described (Wu and Wu, 1993, incorporated herein by reference).

Certain receptor-mediated gene targeting vehicles comprise a cell receptor-specific ligand and a nucleic acid-binding agent. Others comprise a cell receptor-specific ligand to which the nucleic acid to be delivered has been operatively attached. Several ligands have been used for receptor-mediated gene transfer (Wu and Wu, 1987; Wagner et al., 1990; Perales et al., 1994; Myers, EPO 0273085), which establishes the operability of the technique. Specific delivery in the context of another mammalian cell type has been described (Wu and Wu, 1993; incorporated herein by reference). In certain aspects of the present invention, a ligand will be chosen to correspond to a receptor specifically expressed on the target cell population.

In other embodiments, a nucleic acid delivery vehicle component of a cell-specific nucleic acid targeting vehicle may comprise a specific binding ligand in combination with a liposome. The nucleic acid(s) to be delivered are housed within the liposome and the specific binding ligand is functionally incorporated into the liposome membrane. The liposome will thus specifically bind to the receptor(s) of a target cell and deliver the contents to a cell. Such systems have been shown to be functional using systems in which, for example, epidermal growth factor (EGF) is used in the receptor-mediated delivery of a nucleic acid to cells that exhibit upregulation of the EGF receptor.

In still further embodiments, the nucleic acid delivery vehicle component of a targeted delivery vehicle may be a liposome itself, which will preferably comprise one or more lipids or glycoproteins that direct cell-specific binding. For example, lactosyl-ceramide, a galactose-terminal asialganglioside, have been incorporated into liposomes and observed an increase in the uptake of the insulin gene by hepatocytes (Nicolau et al., 1987). It is contemplated that the tissue-specific transforming constructs of the present invention can be specifically delivered into a target cell in a similar manner.

g. Microprojectile Bombardment

Microprojectile bombardment techniques can be used to introduce a nucleic acid into at least one, organelle, cell, tissue or organism (U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,318; U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,880; U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,042; and PCT Application WO 94/09699; each of which is incorporated herein by reference). This method depends on the ability to accelerate DNA-coated microprojectiles to a high velocity allowing them to pierce cell membranes and enter cells without killing them (Klein et al., 1987). There are a wide variety of microprojectile bombardment techniques known in the art, many of which are applicable to the invention.

Microprojectile bombardment may be used to transform various cell(s), tissue(s) or organism(s), such as for example any plant species. Examples of species which have been transformed by microprojectile bombardment include monocot species such as maize (PCT Application WO 95/06128), barley (Ritala et al., 1994; Hensgens et al., 1993), wheat (U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,055, incorporated herein by reference), rice (Hensgens et al., 1993), oat (Torbet et al., 1995; Torbet et al., 1998), rye (Hensgens et al., 1993), sugarcane (Bower et al., 1992), and sorghum (Casas et al., 1993; Hagio et al., 1991); as well as a number of dicots including tobacco (Tomes et al., 1990; Buising and Benbow, 1994), soybean (U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,783, incorporated herein by reference), sunflower (Knittel et al. 1994), peanut (Singsit et al., 1997), cotton (McCabe and Martinell, 1993), tomato (VanEck et al. 1995), and legumes in general (U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,055, incorporated herein by reference).

In this microprojectile bombardment, one or more particles may be coated with at least one nucleic acid and delivered into cells by a propelling force. Several devices for accelerating small particles have been developed. One such device relies on a high voltage discharge to generate an electrical current, which in turn provides the motive force (Yang et al., 1990). The microprojectiles used have consisted of biologically inert substances such as tungsten or gold particles or beads. Exemplary particles include those comprised of tungsten, platinum, and preferably, gold. It is contemplated that in some instances DNA precipitation onto metal particles would not be necessary for DNA delivery to a recipient cell using microprojectile bombardment. However, it is contemplated that particles may contain DNA rather than be coated with DNA. DNA-coated particles may increase the level of DNA delivery via particle bombardment but are not, in and of themselves, necessary.

For the bombardment, cells in suspension are concentrated on filters or solid culture medium. Alternatively, immature embryos or other target cells may be arranged on solid culture medium. The cells to be bombarded are positioned at an appropriate distance below the macroprojectile stopping plate.

12. Host Cells

As used herein, the terms “cell,” “cell line,” and “cell culture” may be used interchangeably. All of these terms also include their progeny, which is any and all subsequent generations. It is understood that all progeny may not be identical due to deliberate or inadvertent mutations. In the context of expressing a heterologous nucleic acid sequence, “host cell” refers to a prokaryotic or eukaryotic cell, and it includes any transformable organisms that is capable of replicating a vector and/or expressing a heterologous gene encoded by a vector. A host cell can, and has been, used as a recipient for vectors. A host cell may be “transfected” or “transformed,” which refers to a process by which exogenous nucleic acid is transferred or introduced into the host cell. A transformed cell includes the primary subject cell and its progeny. As used herein, the terms “engineered” and “recombinant” cells or host cells are intended to refer to a cell into which an exogenous nucleic acid sequence, such as, for example, a vector, has been introduced. Therefore, recombinant cells are distinguishable from naturally occurring cells which do not contain a recombinantly introduced nucleic acid.

In certain embodiments, it is contemplated that RNAs or proteinaceous sequences may be co-expressed with other selected RNAs or proteinaceous sequences in the same host cell. Co-expression may be achieved by co-transfecting the host cell with two or more distinct recombinant vectors. Alternatively, a single recombinant vector may be constructed to include multiple distinct coding regions for RNAs, which could then be expressed in host cells transfected with the single vector.

A tissue may comprise a host cell or cells to be transformed with a folate binding protein variant. The tissue may be part or separated from an organism. In certain embodiments, a tissue may comprise, but is not limited to, adipocytes, alveolar, ameloblasts, axon, basal cells, blood (e.g., lymphocytes), blood vessel, bone, bone marrow, brain, breast, cartilage, cervix, colon, cornea, embryonic, endometrium, endothelial, epithelial, esophagus, facia, fibroblast, follicular, ganglion cells, glial cells, goblet cells, kidney, liver, lung, lymph node, muscle, neuron, ovaries, pancreas, peripheral blood, prostate, skin, skin, small intestine, spleen, stem cells, stomach, testes, anthers, ascite tissue, cobs, ears, flowers, husks, kernels, leaves, meristematic cells, pollen, root tips, roots, silk, stalks, and all cancers thereof.

In certain embodiments, the host cell or tissue may be comprised in at least one organism. In certain embodiments, the organism may be, but is not limited to, a prokayote (e.g., a eubacteria, an archaea) or an eukaryote, as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art (see, for example, webpage http://phylogeny.arizona.edu/tree/phylogeny.html).

Numerous cell lines and cultures are available for use as a host cell, and they can be obtained through the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), which is an organization that serves as an archive for living cultures and genetic materials (www.atcc.org). An appropriate host can be determined by one of skill in the art based on the vector backbone and the desired result. A plasmid or cosmid, for example, can be introduced into a prokaryote host cell for replication of many vectors. Cell types available for vector replication and/or expression include, but are not limited to, bacteria, such as E. coli (e.g., E. coli strain RR1, E. coli LE392, E. coli B, E. coli X 1776 (ATCC No. 31537) as well as E. coli W3110 (F′, lambda, prototrophic, ATCC No. 273325), bacilli such as Bacillus subtilis; and other enterobacteriaceae such as Salmonella typhimurium, Serratia marcescens, various Pseudomonas specie, DH5a, JM109, and KC8, as well as a number of commercially available bacterial hosts such as SURE® Competent Cells and SOLOPACKä Gold Cells (STRATAGENE®, La Jolla). In certain embodiments, bacterial cells such as E. coli LE392 are particularly contemplated as host cells for phage viruses.

Examples of eukaryotic host cells for replication and/or expression of a vector include, but are not limited to, HeLa, NIH3T3, Jurkat, 293, Cos, CHO, Saos, and PC12. Many host cells from various cell types and organisms are available and would be known to one of skill in the art. Similarly, a viral vector may be used in conjunction with either a eukaryotic or prokaryotic host cell, particularly one that is permissive for replication or expression of the vector.

Some vectors may employ control sequences that allow it to be replicated and/or expressed in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. One of skill in the art would further understand the conditions under which to incubate all of the above described host cells to maintain them and to permit replication of a vector. Also understood and known are techniques and conditions that would allow large-scale production of vectors, as well as production of the nucleic acids encoded by vectors and their cognate polypeptides, proteins, or peptides.

13. Expression Systems

Numerous expression systems exist that comprise at least a part or all of the compositions discussed above. Prokaryote- and/or eukaryote-based systems can be employed for use with the present invention to produce nucleic acid sequences, or their cognate polypeptides, proteins and peptides. Many such systems are commercially and widely available.

The insect cellibaculovirus system can produce a high level of protein expression of a heterologous nucleic acid segment, such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,871,986, 4,879,236, both herein incorporated by reference, and which can be bought, for example, under the name MAXBAC® 2.0 from INVITROGEN® and BACPACK™ BACULOVIRUS EXPRESSION SYSTEM FROM CLONTECH®.

Other examples of expression systems include STRATAGENE®'s COMPLETE CONTROLä Inducible Mammalian Expression System, which involves a synthetic ecdysone-inducible receptor, or its pET Expression System, an E. coli expression system. Another example of an inducible expression system is available from INVITROGEN®, which carries the T-REX™ (tetracycline-regulated expression) System, an inducible mammalian expression system that uses the full-length CMV promoter. INVITROGEN® also provides a yeast expression system called the Pichia methanolica Expression System, which is designed for high-level production of recombinant proteins in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia methanolica. One of skill in the art would know how to express a vector, such as an expression construct, to produce a nucleic acid sequence or its cognate polypeptide, protein, or peptide.

It is contemplated that the proteins, polypeptides or peptides produced by the methods of the invention may be “overexpressed”, i.e., expressed in increased levels relative to its natural expression in cells. Such overexpression may be assessed by a variety of methods, including radiolabeling and/or protein purification. However, simple and direct methods are preferred, for example, those involving SDS/PAGE and protein staining or western blotting, followed by quantitative analyses, such as densitometric scanning of the resultant gel or blot. A specific increase in the level of the recombinant protein, polypeptide or peptide in comparison to the level in natural cells is indicative of overexpression, as is a relative abundance of the specific protein, polypeptides or peptides in relation to the other proteins produced by the host cell and, e.g., visible on a gel.

In some embodiments, the expressed proteinaceous sequence forms an inclusion body in the host cell, the host cells are lysed, for example, by disruption in a cell homogenizer, washed and/or centrifuged to separate the dense inclusion bodies and cell membranes from the soluble cell components. This centrifugation can be performed under conditions whereby the dense inclusion bodies are selectively enriched by incorporation of sugars, such as sucrose, into the buffer and centrifugation at a selective speed. Inclusion bodies may be solubilized in solutions containing high concentrations of urea (e.g. 8 M) or chaotropic agents such as guanidine hydrochloride in the presence of reducing agents, such as β-mercaptoethanol or DTT (dithiothreitol), and refolded into a more desirable conformation, as would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

G. Vaccine Component Purification

In any case, a vaccine component (e.g., an antigenic peptide or polypeptide or nucleic acid encoding a proteinaceous composition) may be isolated and/or purified from the chemical synthesis reagents, cell or cellular components. In a method of producing the vaccine component, purification is accomplished by any appropriate technique that is described herein or well known to those of skill in the art (e.g., Sambrook et al., 1987). Although preferred for use in certain embodiments, there is no general requirement that an antigenic composition of the present invention or other vaccine component always be provided in their most purified state. Indeed, it is contemplated that a less substantially purified vaccine component, which is nonetheless enriched in the desired compound, relative to the natural state, will have utility in certain embodiments, such as, for example, total recovery of protein product, or in maintaining the activity of an expressed protein. However, it is contemplate that inactive products also have utility in certain embodiments, such as, e.g., in determining antigenicity via antibody generation.

The present invention also provides purified, and in preferred embodiments, substantially purified vaccines or vaccine components. The term “purified vaccine component” as used herein, is intended to refer to at least one vaccine component (e.g., a proteinaceous composition, isolatable from cells), wherein the component is purified to any degree relative to its naturally-obtainable state, e.g., relative to its purity within a cellular extract or reagents of chemical synthesis. In certain aspects wherein the vaccine component is a proteinaceous composition, a purified vaccine component also refers to a wild-type or mutant protein, polypeptide, or peptide free from the environment in which it naturally occurs.

Where the term “substantially purified” is used, this will refer to a composition in which the specific compound (e.g., a protein, polypeptide, or peptide) forms the major component of the composition, such as constituting about 50% of the compounds in the composition or more. In preferred embodiments, a substantially purified vaccine component will constitute more than about 60%, about 70%, about 80%, about 90%, about 95%, about 99% or even more of the compounds in the composition.

In certain embodiments, a vaccine component may be purified to homogeneity. As applied to the present invention, “purified to homogeneity,” means that the vaccine component has a level of purity where the compound is substantially free from other chemicals, biomolecules or cells. For example, a purified peptide, polypeptide or protein will often be sufficiently free of other protein components so that degradative sequencing may be performed successfully. Various methods for quantifying the degree of purification of a vaccine component will be known to those of skill in the art in light of the present disclosure. These include, for example, determining the specific protein activity of a fraction (e.g., antigenicity), or assessing the number of polypeptides within a fraction by gel electrophoresis.

Various techniques suitable for use in chemical, biomolecule or biological purification, well known to those of skill in the art, may be applicable to preparation of a vaccine component of the present invention. These include, for example, precipitation with ammonium sulfate, PEG, antibodies and the like or by heat denaturation, followed by centrifugation; fractionation, chromatographic procedures, including but not limited to, partition chromatograph (e.g., paper chromatograph, thin-layer chromatograph (TLC), gas-liquid chromatography and gel chromatography) gas chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, affinity chromatography, supercritical flow chromatography ion exchange, gel filtration, reverse phase, hydroxylapatite, lectin affinity; isoelectric focusing and gel electrophoresis (see for example, Sambrook et al. 1989; and Freifelder, Physical Biochemistry, Second Edition, pages 238-246, incorporated herein by reference).

Given many DNA and proteins are known (see for example, the National Center for Biotechnology Information's Genbank and GenPept databases (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/)), or may be identified and amplified using the methods described herein, any purification method for recombinately expressed nucleic acid or proteinaceous sequences known to those of skill in the art can now be employed. In certain aspects, a nucleic acid may be purified on polyacrylamide gels, and/or cesium chloride centrifugation gradients, or by any other means known to one of ordinary skill in the art (see for example, Sambrook et al. 1989, incorporated herein by reference). In further aspects, a purification of a proteinaceous sequence may be conducted by recombinately expressing the sequence as a fusion protein. Such purification methods are routine in the art. This is exemplified by the generation of an specific protein-glutathione S-transferase fusion protein, expression in E. coli, and isolation to homogeneity using affinity chromatography on glutathione-agarose or the generation of a polyhistidine tag on the N- or C-terminus of the protein, and subsequent purification using Ni-affinity chromatography. In particular aspects, cells or other components of the vaccine may be purified by flow cytometry. Flow cytometry involves the separation of cells or other particles in a liquid sample, and is well known in the art (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,826,364, 4,284,412, 4,989,977, 4,498,766, 5,478,722, 4,857,451, 4,774,189, 4,767,206, 4,714,682, 5,160,974 and 4,661,913). Any of these techniques described herein, and combinations of these and any other techniques known to skilled artisans, may be used to purify and/or assay the purity of the various chemicals, proteinaceous compounds, nucleic acids, cellular materials and/or cells that may comprise a vaccine of the present invention. As is generally known in the art, it is believed that the order of conducting the various purification steps may be changed, or that certain steps may be omitted, and still result in a suitable method for the preparation of a substantially purified antigen or other vaccine component.

H. Additional Vaccine Components

It is contemplated that an antigenic composition of the invention may be combined with one or more additional components to form a more effective vaccine. Non-limiting examples of additional components include, for example, one or more additional antigens, immunomodulators or adjuvants to stimulate an immune response to an antigenic composition of the present invention and/or the additional component(s).

1. Immunomodulators

For example, it is contemplated that immunomodulators can be included in the vaccine to augment a cell's or a patient's (e.g., an animal's) response. Immunomodulators can be included as purified proteins, nucleic acids encoding immunomodulators, and/or cells that express immunomodulators in the vaccine composition. The following sections list non-limiting examples of immunomodulators that are of interest, and it is contemplated that various combinations of immunomodulators may be used in certain embodiments (e.g., a cytokine and a chemokine).

In another aspects of the invention, it is contemplated that the folate binding protein variant composition may further comprise a therapeutically effective composition of an immunomodulator. It is envisioned that an immunomodulator would constitute a cytokine, hematapoietin, colony stimulating factor, interleukin, interferon, growth factor or combination thereof. As used herein certain embodiments, the terms “cytokine” are the same as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,984, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, which reads in relevant part:

“The term ‘cytokine’ is a generic term for proteins released by one cell population which act on another cell as intercellular mediators. Examples of such cytokines are lymphokines, monokines, growth factors and traditional polypeptide hormones. Included among the cytokines are growth hormones such as human growth hormone, N-methionyl human growth hormone, and bovine growth hormone; parathyroid hormone; thyroxine; insulin; proinsulin; relaxin; prorelaxin; glycoprotein hormones such as follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH); hepatic growth factor; prostaglandin, fibroblast growth factor; prolactin; placental lactogen, OB protein; tumor necrosis factor-.alpha. and -.beta.; mullerian-inhibiting substance; mouse gonadotropin-associated peptide; inhibin; activin; vascular endothelial growth factor; integrin; thrombopoietin (TPO); nerve growth factors such as NGF-.beta.; platelet-growth factor; transforming growth factors (TGFs) such as TGF-.alpha. and TGF-.beta.; insulin-like growth factor-I and -II; erythropoietin (EPO); osteoinductive factors; interferons such as interferon-a, -.b, and -g; colony stimulating factors (CSFs) such as macrophage-CSF (M-CSF); granulocyte-macrophage-CSF (GM-CSF); and granulocyte-CSF (G-CSF); interleukins (ILs) such as IL-1, IL-1.alpha., IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-9, IL-11, IL-12; IL-13, IL-14, IL-15, IL-16, IL-17, IL-18, LIF, G-CSF, GM-CSF, M-CSF, EPO, kit-ligand or FLT-3. As used herein, the term cytokine includes proteins from natural sources or from recombinant cell culture and biologically active equivalents of the native sequence cytokines.

a. β-interferon

β-interferon (IFN-b) is low molecular weight protein that is produced by many cell types, including epithelial cells, fibroblasts and macrophages. Cells that express endogenous IFN-b are resistant to viral infection and replication. The b-interferon genes from mouse (GenBank accession numbers X14455, X14029) and human (GenBank accession numbers J00218, K00616 and M11029) have been isolated and sequenced. IFN-b is a multifunctional glycoprotein that can inhibit tumor growth both directly, by suppressing cell replication and inducing differentiation or apoptosis and indirectly by activating tumoricidal properties of macrophages and NK cells, by suppressing tumor angiogenesis and by stimulating specific immune response.

b. Interleukin-2

Interleukin-2 (IL-2), originally designated T-cell growth factor I, is a highly proficient inducer of T-cell proliferation and is a growth factor for all subpopulations of T-lymphocytes. IL-2 is an antigen independent proliferation factor that induces cell cycle progression in resting cells and thus allows clonal expansion of activated T-lymphocytes. Since freshly isolated leukemic cells also secrete IL2 and respond to it IL2 may function as an autocrine growth modulator for these cells capable of worsening ATL. IL2 also promotes the proliferation of activated B-cells although this requires the presence of additional factors, for example, IL4. In vitro IL2 also stimulates the growth of oligodendroglial cells. Due to its effects on T-cells and B-cells IL2 is a central regulator of immune responses. It also plays a role in anti-inflammatory reactions, in hematopoiesis and in tumor surveillance. IL-2 stimulates the synthesis of IFN-g in peripheral leukocytes and also induces the secretion of IL-1, TNF-a and TNF-b. The induction of the secretion of tumoricidal cytokines, apart from the activity in the expansion of LAK cells, (lymphokine-activated killer cells ) are probably the main factors responsible for the antitumor activity of IL2.

c. GM-CSF

GM-CSF stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of neutrophilic, eosinophilic, and monocytic lineages. It also functionally activates the corresponding mature forms, enhancing, for example, to the expression of certain cell surface adhesion proteins (CD-11A, CD-11C). The overexpression of these proteins could be one explanation for the observed local accumulation of granulocytes at sites of inflammation. In addition, GM-CSF also enhances expression of receptors for FMLP (Formyl-Met-Leu-Phe) which is a stimulator of neutrophil activity.

d. Cytokines

Interleukins, cytokines, nucleic acids encoding interleukins or cytokines, and/or cells expressing such compounds are contemplated as possible vaccine components. Interleukins and cytokines, include but are not limited to interleukin 1 (IL-1), IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-9, IL-10, IL-11, IL-12, IL-13, IL-14, IL-15, IL-18, β-interferon, α-interferon, γ-interferon, angiostatin, thrombospondin, endostatin, GM-CSF, G-CSF, M-CSF, METH-1, METH-2, tumor necrosis factor, TGFb, LT and combinations thereof.

e. Chemokines

Chemokines, nucleic acids that encode for chemokines, and/or cells that express such also may be used as vaccine components. Chemokines generally act as chemoattractants to recruit immune effector cells to the site of chemokine expression. It may be advantageous to express a particular chemokine coding sequence in combination with, for example, a cytokine coding sequence, to enhance the recruitment of other immune system components to the site of treatment. Such chemokines include, for example, RANTES, MCAF, MIP1-alpha, MIP1-Beta, IP-10 and combinations thereof. The skilled artisan will recognize that certain cytokines are also known to have chemoattractant effects and could also be classified under the term chemokines.

f. Immunogenic Carrier Proteins

In certain embodiments, an antigenic composition's may be chemically coupled to a carrier or recombinantly expressed with a immunogenic carrier peptide or polypetide (e.g., a antigen-carrier fusion peptide or polypeptide) to enhance an immune reaction. Exemplary and preferred immunogenic carrier amino acid sequences include hepatitis B surface antigen, keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and bovine serum albumin (BSA). Other albumins such as ovalbumin, mouse serum albumin or rabbit serum albumin also can be used as immunogenic carrier proteins. Means for conjugating a polypeptide or peptide to a immunogenic carrier protein are well known in the art and include, for example, glutaraldehyde, m-maleimidobenzoyl-N-hydroxysuccinimide ester, carbodiimide and bis-biazotized benzidine.

g. Biological Response Modifiers

It may be desirable to coadminister biologic response modifiers (BRM), which have been shown to upregulate T cell immunity or downregulate suppressor cell activity. Such BRMs include, but are not limited to, cimetidine (CIM; 1200 mg/d) (Smith/Kline, PA); low-dose cyclophosphamide (CYP; 300 mg/m2) (Johnson/Mead, NJ), or a gene encoding a protein involved in one or more immune helper functions, such as B-7.

2. Adjuvants

Immunization protocols have used adjuvants to stimulate responses for many years, and as such adjuvants are well known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Some adjuvants affect the way in which antigens are presented. For example, the immune response is increased when protein antigens are precipitated by alum. Emulsification of antigens also prolongs the duration of antigen presentation.

In one aspect, an adjuvant effect is achieved by use of an agent such as alum used in about 0.05 to about 0.1% solution in phosphate buffered saline. Alternatively, the antigen is made as an admixture with synthetic polymers of sugars (Carbopol®) used as an about 0.25% solution. Adjuvant effect may also be made my aggregation of the antigen in the vaccine by heat treatment with temperatures ranging between about 70° to about 101° C. for a 30-second to 2-minute period, respectively. Aggregation by reactivating with pepsin treated (Fab) antibodies to albumin, mixture with bacterial cell(s) such as C. parvum or an endotoxin or a lipopolysaccharide components of Gram-negative bacteria, emulsion in physiologically acceptable oil vehicles such as mannide mono-oleate (Aracel A) or emulsion with a 20% solution of a perfluorocarbon (Fluosol-DA®) used as a block substitute also may be employed.

Some adjuvants, for example, are certain organic molecules obtained from bacteria, act on the host rather than on the antigen. An example is muramyl dipeptide (N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine [MDP]), a bacterial peptidoglycan. The effects of MDP, as with most adjuvants, are not fully understood. MDP stimulates macrophages but also appears to stimulate B cells directly. The effects of adjuvants, therefore, are not antigen-specific. If they are administered together with a purified antigen, however, they can be used to selectively promote the response to the antigen.

Adjuvants have been used experimentally to promote a generalized increase in immunity against unknown antigens (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,611). This has been attempted particularly in the treatment of cancer. For many cancers, there is compelling evidence that the immune system participates in host defense against the tumor cells, but only a fraction of the likely total number of tumor-specific antigens are believed to have been identified to date. However, using the present invention, the inclusion of a suitable adjuvant into the membrane of an irradiated tumor cell will likely increase the anti-tumor response irrespective of the molecular identification of the prominent antigens. This is a particularly important and time-saving feature of the invention.

In certain embodiments, hemocyanins and hemoerythrins may also be used in the invention. The use of hemocyanin from keyhole limpet (KLH) is preferred in certain embodiments, although other molluscan and arthropod hemocyanins and hemoerythrins may be employed.

Various polysaccharide adjuvants may also be used. For example, the use of various pneumococcal polysaccharide adjuvants on the antibody responses of mice has been described (Yin et al., 1989). The doses that produce optimal responses, or that otherwise do not produce suppression, should be employed as indicated (Yin et al., 1989). Polyamine varieties of polysaccharides are particularly preferred, such as chitin and chitosan, including deacetylated chitin.

Another group of adjuvants are the muramyl dipeptide (MDP, N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine) group of bacterial peptidoglycans. Derivatives of muramyl dipeptide, such as the amino acid derivative threonyl-MDP, and the fatty acid derivative MTPPE, are also contemplated.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,645 describes a lipophilic disaccharide-tripeptide derivative of muramyl dipeptide which is described for use in artificial liposomes formed from phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl glycerol. It is the to be effective in activating human monocytes and destroying tumor cells, but is non-toxic in generally high doses. The compounds of U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,645 and PCT Patent Application WO 91/16347, are contemplated for use with cellular carriers and other embodiments of the present invention.

Another adjuvant contemplated for use in the present invention is BCG. BCG (bacillus Calmette-Guerin, an attenuated strain of Mycobacterium) and BCG-cell wall skeleton (CWS) may also be used as adjuvants in the invention, with or without trehalose dimycolate. Trehalose dimycolate may be used itself. Trehalose dimycolate administration has been shown to correlate with augmented resistance to influenza virus infection in mice (Azuma et al., 1988). Trehalose dimycolate may be prepared as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,945.

BCG is an important clinical tool because of its immunostimulatory properties. BCG acts to stimulate the reticulo-endothelial system, activates natural killer cells and increases proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells. Cell wall extracts of BCG have proven to have excellent immune adjuvant activity. Molecular genetic tools and methods for mycobacteria have provided the means to introduce foreign genes into BCG (Jacobs et al., 1987; Snapper et al., 1988; Husson et al., 1990; Martin et al., 1990).

Live BCG is an effective and safe vaccine used worldwide to prevent tuberculosis. BCG and other mycobacteria are highly effective adjuvants, and the immune response to mycobacteria has been studied extensively. With nearly 2 billion immunizations, BCG has a long record of safe use in man (Luelmo, 1982; Lotte et al., 1984). It is one of the few vaccines that can be given at birth, it engenders long-lived immune responses with only a single dose, and there is a worldwide distribution network with experience in BCG vaccination. An exemplary BCG vaccine is sold as TICE™ BCG (Organon Inc., West Orange, N.J.).

In a typical practice of the present invention, cells of Mycobacterium bovis-BCG are grown and harvested by methods known in the art. For example, they may be grown as a surface pellicle on a Sauton medium or in a fermentation vessel containing the dispersed culture in a Dubos medium (Dubos et al., 1947; Rosenthal, 1937). All the cultures are harvested after 14 days incubation at about 37° C. Cells grown as a pellicle are harvested by using a platinum loop whereas those from the fermenter are harvested by centrifugation or tangential-flow filtration. The harvested cells are resuspended in an aqueous sterile buffer medium. A typical suspension contains from about 2×10¹⁰ cells/ml to about 2×10¹² cells/ml. To this bacterial suspension, a sterile solution containing a selected enzyme which will degrade the BCG cell covering material is added. The resultant suspension is agitated such as by stirring to ensure maximal dispersal of the BCG organisms. Thereafter, a more concentrated cell suspension is prepared and the enzyme in the concentrate removed, typically by washing with an aqueous buffer, employing known techniques such as tangential-flow filtration. The enzyme-free cells are adjusted to an optimal immunological concentration with a cryoprotectant solution, after which they are filled into vials, ampoules, etc., and lyophilized, yielding BCG vaccine, which upon reconstitution with water is ready for immunization.

Amphipathic and surface active agents, e.g., saponin and derivatives such as QS21 (Cambridge Biotech), form yet another group of adjuvants for use with the immunogens of the present invention. Nonionic block copolymer surfactants (Rabinovich et al., 1994; Hunter et al., 1991) may also be employed. Oligonucleotides are another useful group of adjuvants (Yamamoto et al., 1988). Quil A and lentinen are other adjuvants that may be used in certain embodiments of the present invention.

One group of adjuvants preferred for use in the invention are the detoxified endotoxins, such as the refined detoxified endotoxin of U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,034. These refined detoxified endotoxins are effective in producing adjuvant responses in mammals. Of course, the detoxified endotoxins may be combined with other adjuvants to prepare multi-adjuvant-incorporated cells. For example, combination of detoxified endotoxins with trehalose dimycolate is particularly contemplated, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,386. Combinations of detoxified endotoxins with trehalose dimycolate and endotoxic glycolipids is also contemplated (U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,899), as is combination of detoxified endotoxins with cell wall skeleton (CWS) or CWS and trehalose dimycolate, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,436,727, 4,436,728 and 4,505,900. Combinations of just CWS and trehalose dimycolate, without detoxified endotoxins, is also envisioned to be useful, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,019.

In other embodiments, the present invention contemplates that a variety of adjuvants may be employed in the membranes of cells, resulting in an improved immunogenic composition. The only requirement is, generally, that the adjuvant be capable of incorporation into, physical association with, or conjugation to, the cell membrane of the cell in question. Those of skill in the art will know the different kinds of adjuvants that can be conjugated to cellular vaccines in accordance with this invention and these include alkyl lysophosphilipids (ALP); BCG; and biotin (including biotinylated derivatives) among others. Certain adjuvants particularly contemplated for use are the teichoic acids from Gram positive cells. These include the lipoteichoic acids (LTA), ribitol teichoic acids (RTA) and glycerol teichoic acid (GTA). Active forms of their synthetic counterparts may also be employed in connection with the invention (Takada et al., 1995a).

Various adjuvants, even those that are not commonly used in humans, may still be employed in animals, where, for example, one desires to raise antibodies or to subsequently obtain activated T cells. The toxicity or other adverse effects that may result from either the adjuvant or the cells, e.g., as may occur using non-irradiated tumor cells, is irrelevant in such circumstances.

One group of adjuvants preferred for use in some embodiments of the present invention are those that can be encoded by a nucleic acid (e.g., DNA or RNA). It is contemplated that such adjuvants may be encoded in a nucleic acid (e.g., an expression vector) encoding the antigen, or in a separate vector or other construct. These nucleic acids encoding the adjuvants can be delivered directly, such as for example with lipids or liposomes.

3. Excipients, Salts and Auxiliary Substances

An antigenic composition of the present invention may be mixed with one or more additional components (e.g., excipients, salts, etc.) which are pharmaceutically acceptable and compatible with at least one active ingredient (e.g., antigen). Suitable excipients are, for example, water, saline, dextrose, glycerol, ethanol and combinations thereof.

An antigenic composition of the present invention may be formulated into the vaccine as a neutral or salt form. A pharmaceutically-acceptable salt, includes the acid addition salts (formed with the free amino groups of the peptide) and those which are formed with inorganic acids such as, for example, hydrochloric or phosphoric acid, or such organic acids as acetic, oxalic, tartaric, mandelic, and the like. A salt formed with a free carboxyl group also may be derived from an inorganic base such as, for example, sodium, potassium, ammonium, calcium, or ferric hydroxide, and such organic bases as isopropylamine, trimethylamine, 2-ethylamino ethanol, histidine, procaine, and combinations thereof.

In addition, if desired, an antigentic composition may comprise minor amounts of one or more auxiliary substances such as for example wetting or emulsifying agents, pH buffering agents, etc. which enhance the effectiveness of the antigenic composition or vaccine.

I. Vaccine Preparations

Once produced, synthesized and/or purified, an antigen or other vaccine component may be prepared as a vaccine for administration to a patient. The preparation of a vaccine is generally well understood in the art, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,608,251, 4,601,903, 4,599,231, 4,599,230, and 4,596,792, all incorporated herein by reference. Such methods may be used to prepare a vaccine comprising an antigenic composition comprising folate binding protein epitopes and/or variants as active ingredient(s), in light of the present disclosure. In preferred embodiments, the compositions of the present invention are prepared to be pharmacologically acceptable vaccines.

Pharmaceutical vaccine compositions of the present invention comprise an effective amount of one or more folate binding protein epitopes and/or variants or additional agent dissolved or dispersed in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The phrases “pharmaceutical or pharmacologically acceptable” refers to molecular entities and compositions that do not produce an adverse, allergic or other untoward reaction when administered to an animal, such as, for example, a human, as appropriate. The preparation of an pharmaceutical composition that contains at least one folate binding protein epitope or additional active ingredient will be known to those of skill in the art in light of the present disclosure, as exemplified by Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, 18th Ed. Mack Printing Company, 1990, incorporated herein by reference. Moreover, for animal (e.g., human) administration, it will be understood that preparations should meet sterility, pyrogenicity, general safety and purity standards as required by FDA Office of Biological Standards.

As used herein, “pharmaceutically acceptable carrier” includes any and all solvents, dispersion media, coatings, surfactants, antioxidants, preservatives (e.g., antibacterial agents, antifungal agents), isotonic agents, absorption delaying agents, salts, preservatives, drugs, drug stabilizers, binders, excipients, disintegration agents, lubricants, sweetening agents, flavoring agents, dyes, such like materials and combinations thereof, as would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art (see, for example, Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, 18th Ed. Mack Printing Company, 1990, pp. 1289-1329, incorporated herein by reference). The folate binding protein variant may comprise different types of carriers depending on whether it is to be administered in solid, liquid or aerosol form, and whether it need to be sterile for such routes of administration as injection. Except insofar as any conventional carrier is incompatible with the active ingredient, its use in the therapeutic or pharmaceutical compositions is contemplated.

In any case, the composition may comprise various antioxidants to retard oxidation of one or more component. Additionally, the prevention of the action of microorganisms can be brought about by preservatives such as various antibacterial and antifungal agents, including but not limited to parabens (e.g., methylparabens, propylparabens), chlorobutanol, phenol, sorbic acid, thimerosal or combinations thereof.

The folate binding protein variant may be formulated into a composition in a free base, neutral or salt form. Pharmaceutically acceptable salts, include the acid addition salts, e.g., those formed with the free amino groups of a proteinaceous composition, or which are formed with inorganic acids such as for example, hydrochloric or phosphoric acids, or such organic acids as acetic, oxalic, tartaric or mandelic acid. Salts formed with the free carboxyl groups can also be derived from inorganic bases such as for example, sodium, potassium, ammonium, calcium or ferric hydroxides; or such organic bases as isopropylamine, trimethylamine, histidine or procaine.

In embodiments where the composition is in a liquid form, a carrier can be a solvent or dispersion medium comprising but not limited to, water, ethanol, polyol (e.g., glycerol, propylene glycol, liquid polyethylene glycol, etc.), lipids (e.g., triglycerides, vegetable oils, liposomes) and combinations thereof. The proper fluidity can be maintained, for example, by the use of a coating, such as lecithin; by the maintenance of the required particle size by dispersion in carriers such as, for example liquid polyol or lipids; by the use of surfactants such as, for example hydroxypropylcellulose; or combinations thereof such methods. In many cases, it will be preferable to include isotonic agents, such as, for example, sugars, sodium chloride or combinations thereof.

In other embodiments, one may use nasal solutions or sprays, aerosols or inhalants in the present invention. Such compositions are generally designed to be compatible with the target tissue type. In a non-limiting example, nasal solutions are usually aqueous solutions designed to be administered to the nasal passages in drops or sprays. Nasal solutions are prepared so that they are similar in many respects to nasal secretions, so that normal ciliary action is maintained. Thus, in preferred embodiments the aqueous nasal solutions usually are isotonic or slightly buffered to maintain a pH of about 5.5 to about 6.5. In addition, antimicrobial preservatives, similar to those used in ophthalmic preparations, drugs, or appropriate drug stabilizers, if required, may be included in the formulation. For example, various commercial nasal preparations are known and include drugs such as antibiotics or antihistamines.

In certain embodiments the folate binding protein variant is prepared for administration by such routes as oral ingestion. In these embodiments, the solid composition may comprise, for example, solutions, suspensions, emulsions, tablets, pills, capsules (e.g., hard or soft shelled gelatin capsules), sustained release formulations, buccal compositions, troches, elixirs, suspensions, syrups, wafers, or combinations thereof. Oral compositions may be incorporated directly with the food of the diet. Preferred carriers for oral administration comprise inert diluents, assimilable edible carriers or combinations thereof. In other aspects of the invention, the oral composition may be prepared as a syrup or elixir. A syrup or elixir, and may comprise, for example, at least one active agent, a sweetening agent, a preservative, a flavoring agent, a dye, a preservative, or combinations thereof.

In certain preferred embodiments an oral composition may comprise one or more binders, excipients, disintegration agents, lubricants, flavoring agents, and combinations thereof. In certain embodiments, a composition may comprise one or more of the following: a binder, such as, for example, gum tragacanth, acacia, cornstarch, gelatin or combinations thereof; an excipient, such as, for example, dicalcium phosphate, mannitol, lactose, starch, magnesium stearate, sodium saccharine, cellulose, magnesium carbonate or combinations thereof; a disintegrating agent, such as, for example, corn starch, potato starch, alginic acid or combinations thereof; a lubricant, such as, for example, magnesium stearate; a sweetening agent, such as, for example, sucrose, lactose, saccharin or combinations thereof; a flavoring agent, such as, for example peppermint, oil of wintergreen, cherry flavoring, orange flavoring, etc.; or combinations thereof the foregoing. When the dosage unit form is a capsule, it may contain, in addition to materials of the above type, carriers such as a liquid carrier. Various other materials may be present as coatings or to otherwise modify the physical form of the dosage unit. For instance, tablets, pills, or capsules may be coated with shellac, sugar or both.

Additional formulations which are suitable for other modes of administration include suppositories. Suppositories are solid dosage forms of various weights and shapes, usually medicated, for insertion into the rectum, vagina or urethra. After insertion, suppositories soften, melt or dissolve in the cavity fluids. In general, for suppositories, traditional carriers may include, for example, polyalkylene glycols, triglycerides or combinations thereof. In certain embodiments, suppositories may be formed from mixtures containing, for example, the active ingredient in the range of about 0.5% to about 10%, and preferably about 1% to about 2%.

Sterile injectable solutions are prepared by incorporating the active compounds in the required amount in the appropriate solvent with various of the other ingredients enumerated above, as required, followed by filtered sterilization. Generally, dispersions are prepared by incorporating the various sterilized active ingredients into a sterile vehicle which contains the basic dispersion medium and/or the other ingredients. In the case of sterile powders for the preparation of sterile injectable solutions, suspensions or emulsion, the preferred methods of preparation are vacuum-drying or freeze-drying techniques which yield a powder of the active ingredient plus any additional desired ingredient from a previously sterile-filtered liquid medium thereof. The liquid medium should be suitably buffered if necessary and the liquid diluent first rendered isotonic prior to injection with sufficient saline or glucose. The preparation of highly concentrated compositions for direct injection is also contemplated, where the use of DMSO as solvent is envisioned to result in extremely rapid penetration, delivering high concentrations of the active agents to a small area.

The composition must be stable under the conditions of manufacture and storage, and preserved against the contaminating action of microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. It will be appreciated that endotoxin contamination should be kept minimally at a safe level, for example, less that 0.5 ng/mg protein.

In particular embodiments, prolonged absorption of an injectable composition can be brought about by the use in the compositions of agents delaying absorption, such as, for example, aluminum monostearate, gelatin or combinations thereof.

J. Vaccine Administration

The manner of administration of a vaccine may be varied widely. Any of the conventional methods for administration of a vaccine are applicable. For example, a vaccine may be conventionally administered intravenously, intradermally, intraarterially, intraperitoneally, intralesionally, intracranially, intraarticularly, intraprostaticaly, intrapleurally, intratracheally, intranasally, intravitreally, intravaginally, intratumorally, intramuscularly, intraperitoneally, subcutaneously, intravesicularlly, mucosally, intrapericardially, orally, rectally, nasally, topically, in eye drops, locally, using aerosol, injection, infusion, continuous infusion, localized perfusion bathing target cells directly, via a catheter, via a lavage, in cremes, in lipid compositions (e.g., liposomes), or by other method or any combination of the forgoing as would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art (see, for example, Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, 18th Ed. Mack Printing Company, 1990, incorporated herein by reference).

A vaccination schedule and dosages may be varied on a patient by patient basis, taking into account, for example, factors such as the weight and age of the patient, the type of disease being treated, the severity of the disease condition, previous or concurrent therapeutic interventions, the manner of administration and the like, which can be readily determined by one of ordinary skill in the art.

A vaccine is administered in a manner compatible with the dosage formulation, and in such amount as will be therapeutically effective and immunogenic. For example, the intramuscular route may be preferred in the case of toxins with short half lives in vivo. The quantity to be administered depends on the subject to be treated, including, e.g., the capacity of the individual's immune system to synthesize antibodies, and the degree of protection desired. The dosage of the vaccine will depend on the route of administration and will vary according to the size of the host. Precise amounts of an active ingredient required to be administered depend on the judgment of the practitioner. In certain embodiments, pharmaceutical compositions may comprise, for example, at least about 0.1% of an active compound. In other embodiments, the an active compound may comprise between about 2% to about 75% of the weight of the unit, or between about 25% to about 60%, for example, and any range derivable therein However, a suitable dosage range may be, for example, of the order of several hundred micrograms active ingredient per vaccination. In other non-limiting examples, a dose may also comprise from about 1 microgram/kg/body weight, about 5 microgram/kg/body weight, about 10 microgram/kg/body weight, about 50 microgram/kg/body weight, about 100 microgram/kg/body weight, about 200 microgram/kg/body weight, about 350 microgram/kg/body weight, about 500 microgram/kg/body weight, about 1 milligram/kg/body weight, about 5 milligram/kg/body weight, about 10 milligram/kg/body weight, about 50 milligram/kg/body weight, about 100 milligram/kg/body weight, about 200 milligram/kg/body weight, about 350 milligram/kg/body weight, about 500 milligram/kg/body weight, to about 1000 mg/kg/body weight or more per vaccination, and any range derivable therein. In non-limiting examples of a derivable range from the numbers listed herein, a range of about 5 mg/kg/body weight to about 100 mg/kg/body weight, about 5 microgram/kg/body weight to about 500 milligram/kg/body weight, etc., can be administered, based on the numbers described above. A suitable regime for initial administration and booster administrations (e.g., innoculations) are also variable, but are typified by an initial administration followed by subsequent inoculation(s) or other administration(s).

In many instances, it will be desirable to have multiple administrations of the vaccine, usually not exceeding six vaccinations, more usually not exceeding four vaccinations and preferably one or more, usually at least about three vaccinations. The vaccinations will normally be at from two to twelve week intervals, more usually from three to five week intervals. Periodic boosters at intervals of 1-5 years, usually three years, will be desirable to maintain protective levels of the antibodies.

The course of the immunization may be followed by assays for antibodies for the supernatant antigens. The assays may be performed by labeling with conventional labels, such as radionuclides, enzymes, fluorescents, and the like. These techniques are well known and may be found in a wide variety of patents, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,791,932; 4,174,384 and 3,949,064, as illustrative of these types of assays. Other immune assays can be performed and assays of protection from challenge with the folate binding protein variant can be performed, following immunization.

K. Enhancement of an Immune Response

The present invention includes a method of enhancing the immune response in a subject comprising the steps of contacting one or more lymphocytes with a folate binding protein variant antigenic composition, wherein the antigen comprises as part of its sequence a sequence in accordance with SEQ ID NO:1 through SEQ ID NO:8, or a immunologically functional equivalent thereof. In certain embodiments the one or more lymphocytes is comprised in an animal, such as a human. In other embodiments, the lymphocyte(s) may be isolated from an animal or from a tissue (e.g., blood) of the animal. In certain preferred embodiments, the lymphocyte(s) are peripheral blood lymphocyte(s). In certain embodiments, the one or more lymphocytes comprise a T-lymphocyte or a B-lymphocyte. In a particularly preferred facet, the T-lymphocyte is a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte.

The enhanced immune response may be an active or a passive immune response. Alternatively, the response may be part of an adoptive immunotherapy approach in which lymphocyte(s) are obtained with from an animal (e.g., a patient), then pulsed with composition comprising an antigenic composition. In a preferred embodiment, the lymphocyte(s) may be administered to the same or different animal (e.g., same or different donors).

1. Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes

In certain embodiments, T-lymphocytes are specifically activated by contact with an antigenic composition of the present invention. In certain embodiments, T-lymphocytes are activated by contact with an antigen presenting cell that is or has been in contact with an antigenic composition of the invention.

T cells express a unique antigen binding receptor on their membrane (T-cell receptor), which can only recognize antigen in association with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules on the surface of other cells. There are several populations of T cells, such as T helper cells and T cytotoxic cells. T helper cells and T cytotoxic cells are primarily distinguished by their display of the membrane bound glycoproteins CD4 and CD8, respectively. T helper cells secret various lymphokines, that are crucial for the activation of B cells, T cytotoxic cells, macrophages and other cells of the immune system. In contrast, a T cytotoxic cell that recognizes an antigen-MHC complex proliferates and differentiates into an effector cell called a cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL). CTLs eliminate cells of the body displaying antigen by producing substances that result in cell lysis.

CTL activity can be assessed by methods described herein or as would be known to one of skill in the art. For example, CTLs may be assessed in freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), in a phytohaemaglutinin-stimulated IL-2 expanded cell line established from PBMC (Bernard et al., 1998) or by T cells isolated from a previously immunized subject and restimulated for 6 days with DC infected with an adenovirus vector containing antigen using standard 4 h 51^(Cr) release microtoxicity assays. In another fluorometric assay developed for detecting cell-mediated cytotoxicity, the fluorophore used is the non-toxic molecule alamarBlue (Nociari et al., 1998). The alamarBlue is fluorescently quenched (i.e., low quantum yield) until mitochondrial reduction occurs, which then results in a dramatic increase in the alamarBlue fluorescence intensity (i.e., increase in the quantum yield). This assay is reported to be extremely sensitive, specific and requires a significantly lower number of effector cells than the standard 51Cr release assay.

In certain aspects, T helper cell responses can be measured by in vitro or in vivo assay with peptides, polypeptides or proteins. In vitro assays include measurement of a specific cytokine release by enzyme, radioisotope, chromaphore or fluorescent assays. In vivo assays include delayed type hypersensitivity responses called skin tests, as would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

2. Antigen Presenting Cells

In general, the term “antigen presenting cell” can be any cell that accomplishes the goal of the invention by aiding the enhancement of an immune response (i.e., from the T-cell or -B-cell arms of the immune system) against an antigen (e.g., a folate binding protein variant or a immunologically functional equivalent) or antigenic composition of the present invention. Such cells can be defined by those of skill in the art, using methods disclosed herein and in the art. As is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art (see for example Kuby, 1993, incorporated herein by reference), and used herein certain embodiments, a cell that displays or presents an antigen normally or preferentially with a class II major histocompatability molecule or complex to an immune cell is an “antigen presenting cell.” In certain aspects, a cell (e.g., an APC cell) may be fused with another cell, such as a recombinant cell or a tumor cell that expresses the desired antigen. Methods for preparing a fusion of two or more cells is well known in the art, such as for example, the methods disclosed in Goding, pp. 65-66, 71-74 1986; Campbell, pp. 75-83, 1984; Kohler and Milstein, 1975; Kohler and Milstein, 1976, Gefter et al., 1977, each incorporated herein by reference. In some cases, the immune cell to which an antigen presenting cell displays or presents an antigen to is a CD4⁺ TH cell. Additional molecules expressed on the APC or other immune cells may aid or improve the enhancement of an immune response. Secreted or soluble molecules, such as for example, immunomodulators and adjuvants, may also aid or enhance the immune response against an antigen. Such molecules are well known to one of skill in the art, and various examples are described herein.

VII. Peptide Formulations

Peptides containing the epitope motifs described herein are contemplated for use in therapeutics to provide universal FBP targets and antigens for CTLs in the HLA-A2 system. The development of therapeutics based on these novel sequences provides induction of tumor reactive immune cells in vivo through the formulation of synthetic cancer vaccines, as well as induction of tumor-reactive T-cells in vitro through either peptide-mediated (e.g., lipopeptide) or cell-mediated (e.g., EBV-B lines using either autologous or HLA-A2 transfectants where the gene for the peptide of interest is introduced, and the peptide is expressed associated with HLA-A2 on the surface). The use of these novel peptides as components of vaccines to prevent, or lessen the chance of cancer progression is also contemplated.

The peptides contemplated for use, being smaller than other compositions, such as envelope proteins, will have improved bioavailability and half lives. If desired, stability examinations may be performed on the peptides, including, e.g., pre-incubation in human serum and plasma; treatment with various proteases; and also temperature- and pH-stability analyses. If found to be necessary, the stability of the synthetic peptides may be enhanced by any one of a variety of methods such as, for example, employing D-amino acids in place of L-amino acids for peptide synthesis; using blocking groups like t-boc and the like; or encapsulating the peptides within liposomes. The bio-availability of select mixtures of peptides may also be determined by injecting radio-labeled peptides into experimental animals, such as mice and/or Rhesus monkeys, and subsequently analyzing their tissue distribution.

If stability enhancement was desired, it is contemplated that the use of dextrorotary amino acids (D-amino acids) would be advantageous as this would result in even longer bioavailability due to the inability of proteases to attack these types of structures. The peptides of the present invention may also be further stabilized, for example, by the addition of groups to the N- or C-termini, such as by acylation or amination. If desired, the peptides could even be in the form of lipid-tailed peptides, formulated into surfactant-like micelles, or other peptide multimers. The preparation of peptide multimers and surfactant-like micelles is described in detail in U.S. Ser. No. 07/945,865, incorporated herein by reference. The compositions of the present invention are contemplated to be particularly advantageous for use in economical and safe anti-tumor/anti-cancer therapeutics, and specific therapeutic formulations may be tested in experimental animal models, such as mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, cats, goats, Rhesus monkeys, chimpanzees, and the like, in order to determine more precisely the dosage forms required.

In addition to the peptidyl compounds described herein, the inventors also contemplate that other sterically similar compounds may be formulated to mimic the key portions of the peptide structure and that such compounds may also be used in the same manner as the peptides of the invention. This may be achieved by the techniques of modelling and chemical design known to those of skill in the art. For example, esterification and other alkylations may be employed to modify the terminus of a peptide to mimic a particular terminal motif structure. It will be understood that all such sterically similar constructs fall within the scope of the present invention.

Therapeutic or pharmacological compositions of the present invention will generally comprise an effective amount of a CTL-stimulating peptide or peptides, dissolved or dispersed in a pharmaceutically acceptable medium. The phrase “pharmaceutically acceptable” refers to molecular entities and compositions that do not produce an allergic, toxic, or otherwise adverse reaction when administered to a human. Pharmaceutically acceptable media or carriers include any and all solvents, dispersion media, coatings, antibacterial and antifungal agents, isotonic and absorption delaying agents and the like. The use of such media and agents for pharmaceutical active substances is well known in the art. Except insofar as any conventional media or agent is incompatible with the active ingredient, its use in the therapeutic compositions is contemplated.

Supplementary active ingredients can also be incorporated into the therapeutic compositions of the present invention. For example, the stimulatory peptides may also be combined with peptides including cytotoxic T-cell- or T-helper-cell-inducing epitopes (as disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 07/945,865; incorporated herein by reference) to create peptide cocktails for immunization and treatment.

The preparation of pharmaceutical or pharmacological compositions containing a CTL-stimulating peptide or peptides, including dextrorotatory peptides, as active ingredients will be known to those of skill in the art in light of the present disclosure. Typically, such compositions may be prepared as injectables, either as liquid solutions or suspensions; solid forms suitable for solution in, or suspension in, liquid prior to injection; as tablets or other solids for oral administration; as time release capsules; or in any other form currently used, including cremes, lotions, mouthwashes, inhalents and the like.

Solutions of the active compounds as free base or pharmacologically acceptable salts can be prepared in water suitably mixed with a surfactant, such as hydroxypropylcellulose. Dispersions can also be prepared in glycerol, liquid polyethylene glycols, and mixtures thereof and in oils. Under ordinary conditions of storage and use, these preparations contain a preservative to prevent the growth of microorganisms.

Sterile solutions suitable for intravenous administration are preferred in certain embodiments and are contemplated to be particularly effective in stimulating CTLs and/or producing an immune response in an animal. The pharmaceutical forms suitable for injectable use include sterile aqueous solutions or dispersions and sterile powders for the extemporaneous preparation of sterile injectable solutions or dispersions. In all cases the form must be sterile and must be fluid to the extent that easy syringability exists. It must be stable under the conditions of manufacture and storage and must be preserved against the contaminating action of microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi.

A peptide or peptides can be formulated into a composition in a neutral or salt form. Pharmaceutically acceptable salts, include the acid addition salts (formed with the free amino groups of the peptide) and which are formed with inorganic acids such as, e.g., hydrochloric or phosphoric acids, or such organic acids as acetic, oxalic, tartaric, mandelic, and the like. Salts formed with the free carboxyl groups can also be derived from inorganic bases such as, for example, sodium, potassium, ammonium, calcium, or ferric hydroxides, and such organic bases as isopropylamine, trimethylamine, histidine, procaine, and the like.

The carrier can also be a solvent or dispersion medium containing, e.g., water, ethanol, polyol (for example, glycerol, propylene glycol, and liquid polyethylene glycol, and the like), suitable mixtures thereof, and vegetable oils. The proper fluidity can be maintained by inter alia the use of a coating, such as lecithin, by the maintenance of the required particle size in the case of dispersion and by the use of surfactants. The prevention of the action of microorganisms can be brought inter alia by various antibacterial ad antifungal agents, for example, parabens, chlorobutanol, phenol, sorbic acid, thimerosal, and the like. In many cases, it will be preferable to include isotonic agents, e.g., sugars or sodium chloride. Prolonged absorption of the injectable compositions can be brought about by the use in the compositions of agents delaying absorption, for example, aluminum monostearate and gelatin.

Sterile injectable solutions are prepared by incorporating the active compounds in the required amount in the appropriate solvent with various of the other ingredients enumerated above, as required, followed by filtered sterilization. Generally, dispersions are prepared by incorporating the various sterilized active ingredients into a sterile vehicle which contains the basic dispersion medium and the required other ingredients from those enumerated above. In the case of sterile powders for the preparation of sterile injectable solutions, the preferred methods of preparation are vacuum-drying and freeze-drying techniques which yield a powder of the active ingredient plus any additional desired ingredient from a previously sterile-filtered solution thereof.

The preparation of more- or highly-concentrated solutions for intramuscular injection is also contemplated. This is envisioned to have particular utility in facilitating the treatment of needle stick injuries to animals or even humans. In this regard, the use of DMSO as solvent is preferred as this will result in extremely rapid penetration, delivering high concentrations of the active peptide, peptides or agents to a small area.

The use of sterile formulations, such as saline-based washes, by veterinarians, technicians, surgeons, physicians or health care workers to cleanse a particular area in the operating field may also be particularly useful. Therapeutic formulations in accordance with the present invention may also be reconstituted in the form of mouthwashes, including the peptides alone, or in conjunction with antifungal reagents. Inhalant forms are also envisioned, which again, may contain active peptides or agents alone, or in conjunction with other agents, such as, e.g., pentamidine. The therapeutic formulations of the invention may also be prepared in forms suitable for topical administration, such as in cremes and lotions.

Suitable preservatives for use in such a solution include benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride, chlorobutanol, thimerosal and the like. Suitable buffers include boric acid, sodium and potassium bicarbonate, sodium and potassium borates, sodium and potassium carbonate, sodium acetate, sodium biphosphate and the like, in amounts sufficient to maintain the pH at between about pH 6 and pH 8, and preferably, between about pH 7 and pH 7.5. Suitable tonicity agents are dextran 40, dextran 70, dextrose, glycerin, potassium chloride, propylene glycol, sodium chloride, and the like, such that the sodium chloride equivalent of the ophthalmic solution is in the range 0.9±0.2%. Suitable antioxidants and stabilizers include sodium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfite, sodium thiosulfate, thiourea and the like. Suitable wetting and clarifying agents include polysorbate 80, polysorbate 20, poloxamer 282 and tyloxapol. Suitable viscosity-increasing agents include dextran 40, dextran 70, gelatin, glycerin, hydroxyethylcellulose, hydroxmethyl-propylcellulose, lanolin, methylcellulose, petrolatum, polyethylene glycol, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, carboxymethylcellulose and the like.

Upon formulation, therapeutics will be administered in a manner compatible with the dosage formulation, and in such amount as is pharmacologically effective. The formulations are easily administered in a variety of dosage forms, such as the type of injectable solutions described above, but drug release capsules and the like can also be employed. As used herein, “pharmacologically effective amount” means an amount of composition is used that contains an amount of a peptide or peptides sufficient to significantly stimulate a CTL or generate an immune response in an animal.

In this context, the quantity of peptide(s) and volume of composition to be administered depends on the host animal to be treated, such as, the capacity of the host animal's immune system to produce an immune response. Precise amounts of active peptide required to be administered depend on the judgment of the practitioner and are peculiar to each individual.

A minimal volume of a composition required to disperse the peptide is typically utilized. Suitable regimes for administration are also variable, but would be typified by initially administering the compound and monitoring the results and then giving further controlled doses at further intervals. For example, for parenteral administration, a suitably buffered, and if necessary, isotonic aqueous solution would be prepared and used for intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous or even intraperitoneal administration. One dosage could be dissolved in 1 ml of isotonic NaCl solution and either added to 1000 ml of hypodermoclysis fluid or injected at the proposed site of infusion, (see for example, “Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences” 15th Edition, pages 1035-1038 and 1570-1580).

In certain embodiments, active compounds may be administered orally. This is contemplated for agents that are generally resistant, or have been rendered resistant, to proteolysis by digestive enzymes. Such compounds are contemplated to include chemically designed or modified agents; dextrorotatory peptides; and peptide and liposomal formulations in timed-release capsules to avoid peptidase, protease and/or lipase degradation.

Oral formulations may include compounds in combination with an inert diluent or an edible carrier which may be assimilated; those enclosed in hard- or soft-shell gelatin capsules; those compressed into tablets; or those incorporated directly with the food of the diet. For oral therapeutic administration, the active compounds may be incorporated with excipients and used in the form of ingestible tablets, buccal tables, troches, capsules, elixirs, suspensions, syrups, wafers, and the like. Such compositions and preparations should generally contain at least 0.1% of active compound. The percentage of the compositions and preparations may, of course, be varied and may conveniently be between about 2 to about 60% of the weight of the unit. The amount of active compounds in such therapeutically useful compositions is such that a suitable dosage will be obtained.

Tablets, troches, pills, capsules and the like may also contain the following: a binder, as gum tragacanth, acacia, corn starch, or gelatin; excipients, such as dicalcium phosphate; a disintegrating agent, such as corn starch, potato starch, alginic acid and the like; a lubricant, such as magnesium stearate; and a sweetening agent, such as sucrose, lactose or saccharin may be added or a flavoring agent, such as peppermint, oil of wintergreen, or cherry flavoring. When the dosage unit form is a capsule, it may contain, in addition to materials of the above type, a liquid carrier. Various other materials may be present as coatings or to otherwise modify the physical form of the dosage unit. For instance, tablets, pills, or capsules may be coated with shellac, sugar or both. A syrup of elixir may contain the active compounds sucrose as a sweetening agent methyl and propylparaben as preservatives, a dye and flavoring, such as cherry or orange flavor. Of course, any material used in preparing any dosage unit form should be pharmaceutically pure and substantially non-toxic in the amounts employed. In addition, the active compounds may be incorporated into sustained-release preparation and formulations.

The peptides may be used in their immunizing capacity by administering an amount effective to generate an immune response in an animal. In this sense, such an “amount effective to generate an immune response” means an amount of composition that contains a peptide or peptide mixture sufficient to significantly produce an antigenic response in the animal.

VIII. Examples

The following examples are included to demonstrate preferred embodiments of the invention. It should be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the techniques disclosed in the examples which follow represent techniques discovered by the inventors to function well in the practice of the invention, and thus can be considered to constitute preferred modes for its practice. However, those of skill in the art should, in light of the present disclosure, appreciate that many changes can be made in the specific embodiments which are disclosed and still obtain a like or similar result without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Example 1 Rationale for Variant Design

Studies in experimental models regarding lymphocyte development in the thymus show that interaction of thymocytes with weak or null (no apparent effect) agonists lead to positive selection (i.e. survival) of responders for a specific Ag, while stimulation with strong agonists leads to negative selection (deletion of reactive CTL). Similarly, recent studies on CD8⁺ cell responses from peripheral blood show that Ag variants with null or weak agonistic activity induced expansion of precursors of CTL responding to a model Ag, but not effector function. These results were obtained with transgenic animals, and the recipients for the CTL were heavily irradiated. There is little information concerning how the responders to tumor, and/or their precursors, can be maintained and avoid elimination in healthy individuals, or patients without evidence of disease. However, the presence of such precursors, or of activated CTL recognizing tumor Ag, (Peoples et al., 1998; Hudson et al., 1998; Peoples et al, 1998; Kim et al., 1999; Lee et al., 2000) is proof that such responders exist in the peripheral blood. Approaches to promote their survival, expansion and induction of lytic formation is beneficial for the patients. If the responders targeted for survival are low-affinity CTL, the weak affinity is expected to be compensated by a significant increase in effector numbers. If the responders are of high affinity, protection from AICD will also allow their expansion.

To design “survival inducing” Ag, the present invention focuses on the FBP epitope E39: EIWTHSYKV. This epitope is recognized, although with low affinity, by ovarian and breast tumor reactive CTL. It was predicted that improved immunogenicity in terms of net gain in cell numbers reacting with the wild-type Ag is achieved by reducing the positive charge at the amino acid in position 5 (histidine) and replacement of histidine with phenylalanine (Phe). Phe is not charged, but its benzene aromatic ring is a close substitution for the imidazole ring of histidine. To ensure a better flexibility of the residues in the peptide, the phenolic structure of tyrosine was replaced with the aliphatic core chain of Threonine (Thr). Both Tyr and Thr contain an OH (hydroxyl) side chain group. Thus, the positive charge in position 5 and the rigid structure of Tyr were eliminated. In a specific embodiment, this increases the flexibility of the residues 5-9 (SYKV) in the peptide and allows for a better fitting of the TCR with the peptide MHC complex. The variant: E I W T F S T K V was designated J65. Additional variants of J65 were created with changes in position 7 (Tyr)→Thr only=designated J77, in position 5 only Phe→His=designated J78, and in positions 1 and 6. These analogs/variants are listed in Table 5.

TABLE 5 Variants of Folate Binding Protein VARIANT SEQUENCE CHANGE E39 EIWTHSYKV (SEQ wild type ID NO: 268) J77 EIWTHSTKV (SEQ Y7→T ID NO: 1) J78 EIWTFSYKV (SEQ ID H5→F NO: 2) J68 FIWTFATKV (SEQ ID E1→F, H5→F, Y7→T NO: 3) J67 EIWTHATKV (SEQ S6→A, Y7→T ID NO: 4) J66 EIWTFSTKV (SEQ ID E1→F, H5→F, Y7→T NO: 5) J65 EIWTFSYKV (SEQ ID H5→F, Y7→T NO: 6) J64 GIWTHSTKV (SEQ E1→G, Y7→T ID NO: 7) J63 FIWTHSTKV (SEQ ID E1→F, Y7→T NO: 8)

Selection of these Ag variants was made on the principle of Ag alteration aiming to alternate signaling. In addition to substitutions H→F (Pos. 5) and Y→T (pos. 7), substitutions were introduced in the other positions: S→A (Pos. 6 and Glu (B)→F and E→Gly (G) (in Pos. 1). The purpose of these substitutions was to remove potential reacting groups with the TCR. In the substitution S→A (Pos. A), this change removes a side chain OH group. In position 1, the substitution E (glutamic acid)→glycine, removes the entire aliphatic side chain plus the charged COO group. Also in position 1, the substitution E→F (removes the charged group COO, but introduces an aromatic ring). These substitutions aim to diminish the reactivity of the peptide with the TCR.

Example 2 IFN-γ Induction and CTL Activity

The HLA-A2 stabilizing ability of the variant peptides has also been determined (FIG. 1). The results show that the stabilizing ability of J65 is almost half of the stabilizing ability of E39. In contrast, substitutions at position 1 increase the binding affinity of the peptide. The results in FIG. 2 show the cytolytic activity of J65-induced CTL compared with E39-induced CTL. The results indicate that J65 was a weaker inducer of IFN-γ from 3×J65 stimulated cultures than J77 and E39, suggesting that the changes in the sequence had cumulative effects in decreasing IFN-γ induction.

To address the effects of FBP variants on induction of CTL activity, PBMC cultures from the healthy donor stimulated three times with J65 were split in three and restimulated with either E39 or J65 or J77. A control culture was made of the same PBMC stimulated three times with E39 and restimulated with E39 for the fourth time. PBMC stimulated three times with E39 (3×E39) followed by E39 showed moderate weak recognition of E39. In contrast, 3×J65 stimulated CTL showed significantly higher recognition of E39 after stimulation with E39. A similar picture was observed with 3×J65 cells restimulated with J65, while 3×J65 restimulated with J77 showed significantly lower CTL activity than 3×J65 stimulated with the other peptides. It was recently reported that memory CTL reacting with the tumor Ag such as FBP are present in the blood of healthy individuals (Lee et al., 2000). These cells can be easily activated by stimulation with the corresponding peptide presented on dendritic cells (Kim et al., 1999). To evaluate the stimulating ability of the analogs J65 and J77, PBMC from a responding donor were stimulated with E39, J65 and J77. These results show that the potentiating role of J65 in responder proliferation and cytotoxicity does not reflect enhanced IL-2 and/or IFN-γ secretion compared with the wild-type Ag, but its weaker cytokine-inducing activity appears to protect CTL of higher affinity from apoptosis by avoiding overstimulation.

Example 3 Specific IL-2 Induction by Priming with FBP Variants

In J65-primed CTL, higher CTL activity and IFN-γ secretion can be elicited by the wild-type epitope E39, suggesting a protective effect of the previous stimulations. The results in FIG. 3 show that J65 and J77 induced lower levels of IL-2 in the PBMC of this donor compared with the wild-type peptide E39. To identify which of E39 variants induced higher cell expansion, PBMC from the same donor were stimulated three times with the corresponding peptide, and the resulting live cells were counted a week after each stimulation. The results in FIG. 4 show that cultures stimulated with E39 initially expanded faster than other cultures; however, after the third stimulation, cultures stimulated with J65 increased faster in numbers. In contrast, cultures stimulated with J78 (H→F) and J77 (Y→T) proliferated slower than control cultures which were not stimulated with peptide. Similar results were obtained with J65 in another donor (FIG. 5). In this donor, cells stimulated with E39 died after the third stimulation while cells stimulated by J65 expanded faster. Cells stimulated with J77 and J78 also expanded, but at a slower rate.

REFERENCES

The following references, to the extent that they provide exemplary procedural or other details supplementary to those set forth herein, are specifically incorporated herein by reference.

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All of the compositions and methods disclosed and claimed herein can be made and executed without undue experimentation in light of the present disclosure. While the compositions and methods of this invention have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that variations may be applied to the compositions and methods and in the steps or in the sequence of steps of the method described herein without departing from the concept, spirit and scope of the invention. More specifically, it will be apparent that certain agents which are both chemically and physiologically related may be substituted for the agents described herein while the same or similar results would be achieved. All such similar substitutes and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art are deemed to be within the spirit, scope and concept of the invention as described herein. 

1.-22. (canceled)
 23. A composition comprising a variant of a peptide fragment of the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:10, wherein said variant is of at least 9 amino acids or up to about 30 amino acids, comprises SEQ ID NO:268 but for substitution therein of the amino acids at positions 5 and 7 thereof by phenylalanine and threonine, respectively, and further comprises from 0 to 21 additional contiguous amino acids of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:10 that flank SEQ ID NO:268 as contained therein.
 24. The composition of claim 23, further comprising a variant of a peptide fragment of the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:10, wherein said variant is of at least 9 amino acids or up to about 30 amino acids, and comprises SEQ ID NO:268 but for substitution therein of the amino acids as follows: a) at position 5 thereof by phenylalanine; b) at positions 1, 5, 6, and 7 thereof by phenylalanine, phenylalanine, alanine, and threonine, respectively; c) at positions 6 and 7 thereof by alanine and threonine, respectively; d) at positions 1 and 7 thereof by phenylalanine and threonine, respectively; e) at positions 1, 5, and 7 thereof by phenylalanine, phenylalanine, and threonine, respectively; f) at positions 1 and 7 thereof by glycine and threonine, respectively; or g) a combination thereof, and further comprises from 1 to 21 additional contiguous amino acids of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:10 that flank SEQ ID NO:268 as contained therein
 25. The composition of claim 23, further comprising a peptide fragment of the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:10, wherein said variant is of at least 9 amino acids or up to about 30 amino acids, and comprises SEQ ID NO:268.
 26. The composition of claim 23, further comprising a peptide fragment of the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:10, wherein said variant is of at least 9 amino acids or up to about 30 amino acids, and comprises SEQ ID NO:269.
 27. The composition of claim 23 in a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient. 